A text alert about an undelivered package or an unpaid toll may look like a one-off scam. A new
Microsoft cybercrime crackdown shows it is often the visible end of a much larger operation. Microsoft and Health-ISAC, a global non-profit that helps health sector organizations share cyber threat information and improve operational resilience, have moved to dismantle three services, YAM Store, CoGUI and Iron Man, that supplied criminals worldwide with accounts, hosting and tools to build fake websites and online identities.
Since January 2026, the three services have collectively enabled more than one billion malicious messages targeting over 75,000 organizations worldwide.
More than 750 million of those messages were aimed at Microsoft customers alone. Consumers, healthcare organizations, financial institutions and other businesses in more than 150 countries were targeted, generating tens of millions of dollars for the operators.
How the Microsoft Cybercrime Crackdown Began
The investigation started in late 2025 after
Japan's National Police Agency (NPA) alerted Microsoft to malicious messaging campaigns targeting people in Japan. The NPA continued providing intelligence and investigative support throughout the probe as partners traced those campaigns back to the businesses supplying criminals around the world.
Investigators expected to find individual campaigns. Instead, they traced the activity to a sprawling Chinese-language marketplace that was difficult for non-native-speaking investigators to penetrate.
The
probe widened to include the Japan Cybercrime Control Center (JC3), Resecurity, Cloudflare, Oracle, Proofpoint and TRM Labs. Drawing on its network of more than 130 member organizations, JC3 linked what appeared to be separate incidents into a broader pattern of scams against Japanese companies and financial institutions. Health-ISAC provided insight into the impact on healthcare organizations.
What the Microsoft Cybercrime Crackdown Uncovered
YAM Store operated much like an online shop. Customers could browse products, compare prices and buy fraudulent Microsoft and Google accounts along with ready-made
scam tools, including those used for credential theft. Controlled purchases by
Microsoft helped confirm how it worked.
In some cases, operators bought
internet domains that legitimate organizations had allowed to expire, often in sectors such as non-profits and education, with specialized product offerings for those sectors. They rebuilt the websites to make those organizations appear active, then used them to fraudulently obtain Microsoft 365 accounts for resale.
The infrastructure sold through YAM Store was frequently paired with CoGUI. This service supplied ready-made websites and messages impersonating companies, banks, government agencies and other trusted organizations. Rather than build fraudulent sites themselves, criminals could quickly deploy pages designed to steal passwords, payment details and personal
data. CoGUI became one of the most widely used offerings in the ecosystem, particularly targeting victims in Japan and the United States.
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By mid-2026, CoGUI was increasingly being replaced by Iron Man, which offered thousands of
phishing templates tailored to specific brands, industries and countries. Criminals could use them to quickly deploy email, text and web content.
Through test purchases and work with Resecurity, investigators identified more than 2,300 templates impersonating banks, retailers, healthcare providers, transportation authorities, police departments and government agencies across more than 150 countries. Others mimicked airlines, telecommunications companies and parcel delivery services. Some were built for government impersonation scams, using the look of official authority to pressure victims into paying or sharing sensitive information.
Microsoft noted that an organization appearing in these templates does not mean its systems were compromised.
Court Order Backs Microsoft Cybercrime Crackdown
Acting on an order from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Microsoft and Health-ISAC seized and redirected domains that formed part of the infrastructure behind the three services. Microsoft has disabled more than 20,000 accounts linked to YAM Store and is blocking more than 100,000 domains used for impersonation and
fraud, while removing infrastructure hosted on its services.
Microsoft also shared intelligence with the U.S. Secret Service and international law enforcement partners. Investigators used
AI tools to connect accounts, websites and infrastructure that initially appeared unrelated.
The case reflects a trend highlighted in this year's Microsoft Digital Defense Report: modern fraud increasingly relies on businesses and services that help criminals reach more victims. No single organization saw the full picture of this transnational
cybercrime network, and uncovering it required two-way information sharing across industries and borders.
YAM Store, CoGUI and Iron Man are only part of a larger criminal ecosystem. Still, the Microsoft cybercrime crackdown makes it harder for criminals to obtain the accounts, tools and infrastructure that keep
scam messages flowing.
Microsoft Threat Intelligence has published a blog with further details on the network and steps customers can take to protect themselves.
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