The "Ore, ore" ("It's me") fraudsters and their ilk, who telephone elderly people and pretend to be a relative in need of money to help them out of a jam, keep coming up with new scams.
One might say Japan is a target-rich environment. In an online survey conducted by the Asahi Shimbun two years ago, people were asked if they considered themselves easily deceived or cheated. Five percent of respondents gave "yes" replies and another 32 percent admitted they were vulnerable to some degree.
Their responses bring to mind an oft-quoted expression that goes, "Shōjiki-mono ga baka wo miru" ("Honesty doesn't pay"). Sadly, criminal tricksters devote a lot of effort to refining their techniques, thwarting attempts by the authorities and financial institutions to raise the public's awareness about them. The penalties for fraud, as they now stand, do not appear to pose enough of a deterrent.