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Furusato Choice (Trustbank) data breach

Was I affected?

Furusato Choice (Trustbank) confirmed a breach affecting about 4.5 million people, exposing names, email addresses, addresses and phone numbers. You may be affected if you registered as a member on Furusato Choice to make hometown tax donations.

Furusato Choice (Trustbank) breach facts
AnnouncedOct 20, 2026
When it happenedOctober 17, 2026; found October 19
CountryJapan
People affected4.5 million
Data exposedNames, Email addresses, Addresses, Phone numbers, Passwords and Bank or financial details
StatusConfirmed by the company or a regulator filing

What happened

Trustbank, which runs Furusato Choice, a major portal for Japan's hometown tax donation (furusato nozei) program used by more than 1,700 municipalities, said on October 20, 2026 that an outsider accessed its member data on October 17. It noticed unusual access on October 19 and suspended Furusato Choice services that afternoon. Data for 4,454,097 members was taken: names, email addresses, addresses, phone numbers, hashed passwords and each member's estimated donation tax deduction. Trustbank said the figures could change as its investigation continues, and it reported the incident to Japan's Personal Information Protection Commission.

What should I do?

  1. If you used the same email and password combination on other services, change those passwords.
  2. Be wary of emails, texts, calls or letters posing as Furusato Choice, Trustbank, municipalities or the tax office, especially ones that mention your donations or tax deduction.
  3. Don't enter personal details or passwords on sites reached from links in unexpected messages; go to Furusato Choice directly.
  4. When the site asks you to reset your password, do it from the official site.
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