Spanish police have dismantled Tu Manga Online (TMO), the largest Spanish-language pirated manga platform, which had been operating since 2014 and attracted millions of visitors per month. Four individuals associated with TMO were arrested, and two USB devices hidden inside a wall thermometer were seized during a search. The devices contained cold-storage cryptocurrency wallets containing approximately $470,000 in assets.
Tu Manga Online (also known as ZonaTMO) provided free access to manga and manhwa, generating revenue through aggressive advertising. According to law enforcement, TMO's total advertising revenue over the years exceeded $4.7 million. Pop-ups were displayed during every user interaction, from selecting a title to browsing the catalog.
Authorities also note that a significant portion of the advertising was pornographic, which was particularly concerning given the site's large audience of minors.
According to estimates by the analytics company Deepsee , TMO and its associated domains attracted approximately one billion views in November 2024 alone. At the time, researchers linked the platform to the Spanish company Nakamas Web, registered in Almería (the city where the police operation ultimately took place).
TMO's problems began on March 18, 2026, when the site became unavailable. Initially, the resource displayed a "maintenance" stub, but a few days later, the main domain, zonatmo.com, was placed on clienthold—a standard registrar block in response to a legal demand.
As reported by TorrentFreak , the Copyright Overseas Promotion Association (COA), an organization representing the interests of Korean publishers, including Kakao and Webtoon, was behind the site's shutdown. COA representatives, together with the anti-piracy firm IP House and the Spanish law firm Santiago Mediano Abogados, conducted a months-long investigation and subsequently handed over all the evidence to law enforcement.
During a search in Almería, police discovered the server infrastructure supporting the platform and discovered that one of the suspects was developing a second website (presumably in case the main one was blocked).
In addition to TMO, authorities shut down a network of related resources, including Visortmo. Four individuals were arrested in the operation, but law enforcement is not releasing any details about their roles or ties to TMO.
Law enforcement also confiscated two USB devices hidden inside a wall thermometer from the suspects. These devices contained cold wallets containing over $470,000 in assets.
As TorrentFreak notes, the closure of TMO is part of a larger wave of anti-piracy efforts in the manga and anime industries. For example, in January 2026, law enforcement shut down the manga aggregator Bato.to, and its operator was located in China, where a criminal case was opened . In March 2026, one of the largest pirated anime resources, HiAnime , shut down .
COA representatives stated that this is not the end of their anti-piracy efforts: the organization continues investigations and is preparing coordinated lawsuits in multiple jurisdictions.
Tu Manga Online (also known as ZonaTMO) provided free access to manga and manhwa, generating revenue through aggressive advertising. According to law enforcement, TMO's total advertising revenue over the years exceeded $4.7 million. Pop-ups were displayed during every user interaction, from selecting a title to browsing the catalog.
Authorities also note that a significant portion of the advertising was pornographic, which was particularly concerning given the site's large audience of minors.
According to estimates by the analytics company Deepsee , TMO and its associated domains attracted approximately one billion views in November 2024 alone. At the time, researchers linked the platform to the Spanish company Nakamas Web, registered in Almería (the city where the police operation ultimately took place).
TMO's problems began on March 18, 2026, when the site became unavailable. Initially, the resource displayed a "maintenance" stub, but a few days later, the main domain, zonatmo.com, was placed on clienthold—a standard registrar block in response to a legal demand.
As reported by TorrentFreak , the Copyright Overseas Promotion Association (COA), an organization representing the interests of Korean publishers, including Kakao and Webtoon, was behind the site's shutdown. COA representatives, together with the anti-piracy firm IP House and the Spanish law firm Santiago Mediano Abogados, conducted a months-long investigation and subsequently handed over all the evidence to law enforcement.
During a search in Almería, police discovered the server infrastructure supporting the platform and discovered that one of the suspects was developing a second website (presumably in case the main one was blocked).
In addition to TMO, authorities shut down a network of related resources, including Visortmo. Four individuals were arrested in the operation, but law enforcement is not releasing any details about their roles or ties to TMO.
Law enforcement also confiscated two USB devices hidden inside a wall thermometer from the suspects. These devices contained cold wallets containing over $470,000 in assets.
As TorrentFreak notes, the closure of TMO is part of a larger wave of anti-piracy efforts in the manga and anime industries. For example, in January 2026, law enforcement shut down the manga aggregator Bato.to, and its operator was located in China, where a criminal case was opened . In March 2026, one of the largest pirated anime resources, HiAnime , shut down .
COA representatives stated that this is not the end of their anti-piracy efforts: the organization continues investigations and is preparing coordinated lawsuits in multiple jurisdictions.