Cases of fraud involving swindlers pretending to be relatives of victims continue to rise, with the amount of money defrauded topping a record ¥40 billion in the nine-month period through the end of September, police said.
A new type of "ore-ore" (It's me, it's me) scam has surfaced in recent months, in which swindlers ask seniors in the countryside to come to Tokyo with cash.
These "jokyo" (coming to the capital) fraudsters — who often pretend to be family members in urgent need of cash — phone older people living in rural areas asking them to come to Tokyo and hand over cash to someone.