Cases of remittance fraud known as "furikome sagi" (send me money!) scams are still rampant. Swindlers posing as relatives or as officials of government agencies approach people by telephone or the Internet and dupe them into sending them money. The police, banks and other organizations must enhance their cooperation in eradicating this nasty crime.
The National Police Agency's 2009 white book mentions furikome sagi and other frauds. Money-transfer scams reached a peak in 2004 with about 25,700 cases; the money swindled totaled about ¥28.4 billion. The number of cases gradually then declined while the swindled amounts leveled off at around ¥25 billion. But in 2008, police learned of some 20,500 cases with swindled amounts reaching about ¥27.6 billion.
The crime's rampancy is attributable to the fact that swindlers have improved their methods. In the past, many swindlers posed as sons or grandsons of their targets and made their pitch by phone, saying something like: "I've caused a traffic accident. Please transmit money to my bank account so that I can settle the matter." After this method became widely known, swindlers began telling their targets that they needed settlement money because of accusations that they were train gropers or that they had embezzled funds at work.