The number of bank transfer scams involving automated teller machines plunged 64.2 percent last year to a record low 7,340 cases, thanks to an all-out police campaign that was backed by banks, the National Police Agency said Thursday.
The amount of money swindled in the billing scams tumbled 65.3 percent to about ¥9.58 billion, also the lowest since officials started compiling statistics in 2004, the year the fraud became a social problem.
Damages from the crime had topped ¥25 billion every year between 2004 and 2008.
A typical case of bank-transfer fraud using an ATM is the "It's me" scam, in which a person posing as a relative asks the victim over the phone to remit money, saying it's needed to get out of trouble.
The agency said the number of billing fraud cases that led to an arrest increased 28.8 percent to a record 5,669 in 2009, accounting for 77.2 percent of all billing fraud cases reported to police, up sharply from 21.5 percent the preceding year.