The Immigration Bureau announced Wednesday that 383 acts of fraud were committed against foreign trainees in 2016, a record high since the current Technical Intern Training Program was launched in 2010.
Major fraudulent acts included 121 cases where trainees went unpaid, with 94 of those involving the forging of paperwork that was submitted to the government to hide such acts. Fifty-one cases involved the use of a fake name so as the trainee could work in nonregistered workplaces.
Of 239 businesses and other organizations reported to have defrauded foreign trainees, 67 were in the agriculture and fisheries sector, 61 in the textiles and clothing sector and 38 in the construction sector. Some 33 business associations were also named.