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.
Unable to view this article?
This could be due to a conflict with your ad-blocking or security software.
Please add japantimes.co.jp and piano.io to your list of allowed sites.
If this does not resolve the issue or you are unable to add the domains to your allowlist, please see out this support page.
We humbly apologize for the inconvenience.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.