The Police dismantle TuMangaOnline, the largest platform for pirated manga content in Spanish

The Police dismantle TuMangaOnline, the largest platform for pirated manga content in Spanish

Something was already suspected a month ago. Since last March 18, the website tumangaonline.comTMO, was inaccessible, in theory due to maintenance work. However, it has not been back in operation since then, causing users of this illegal distribution platform for Japanese (manga), Korean (manhwa) and Chinese (manhua) comics, the largest in Spanishthey feared the worst. The National Police has reported this Wednesday of the arrest of three computer engineers, responsible for TMO, who are attributed an alleged continuing crime against intellectual property. After being brought to justice, have been released.

According to the Police, the dismantled platform, the largest Spanish-speaking online manga repository, had millions of users, had been operating since 2014 and, at this time, had won more than 4 million euros ‘through a monitoring system with pop-up windows of pornographic content’.

TMO constantly showed pop-ups every time the user interacted with the websitea system that allowed them to accumulate the aforementioned amount in profits. The fact that most of the advertising was pornographic generated a ‘social problems’given that many of the users who read the comics for which the website lacked authorization to publish were minors.

In the registry of the domicile of the main investigated, in Almeriathe police found ‘a complex technological framework intended for the maintenance and operation of the platform’. It also confirmed that a new ‘complementary’ website was being developed, the launch of which has been frustrated and Two USB flash drives were seized, hidden inside a wall thermometer, which ‘contained cold cryptocurrency wallets worth more than 400,000 euros’.

Before the police reported this operation, the Korean copyright organization Copyright Overseas Promotion AssociationCOA, confirmed its role in the downfall of the site and revealed that the Spanish police had taken action against its operators, as reported by TorrentFreak last Friday.

COA, which represents numerous Korean publishers, including Kakao and webtoonworked with the anti-piracy commercial firm IP-House and with the Spanish law firm Santiago Mediano Lawyers and shared the evidence collected with the authorities so that they could act. The Police indicate that the investigation began in June 2025although it does not make any reference to these organizations.

COA told the media that Zonatmoone of the domains through which TMO’s pirated content was distributed, ‘has long been recognized as a large illegal platform known for distributing unauthorized Spanish translations of Korean content. Korean rights holders had been monitoring the platform since its early stages and, in response, have pushed for concrete legal actions abroad through COA‘.

Jan van VoornCEO of IP-House, said in a statement that ‘this result reflects the strength of cross-border collaboration to address complex digital piracy and protect creators, consumers and the integrity of the global content ecosystem. We are proud to have supported COA in advancing this research and We commend the Spanish National Police for its leadership and effectiveness in carrying out this action.‘.

COA warns that other similar websites will follow the path of TMO. ‘This action is part of a broader law enforcement initiative led by COA, on behalf of the alliance K-content. It is actively investigating operators of this type of platforms and preparing coordinated legal actions in multiple jurisdictions‘, he told TorrentFreak.