National / Media | DARK SIDE OF THE RISING SUN Jun 6, 2020
Crime syndicate puts brakes on fraudulent activities during pandemic
by Jake Adelstein
Gang leadership says it's wrong to “rob (elderly) individuals of the money they need to live.”
National May 16, 2020
Over 1,000 bogus websites imitating Japanese firms and agencies found amid pandemic
No one knows why the sites were made, but the operators of the servers hosting them have been asked to delete them.
Crime & Legal Apr 16, 2020
Japanese police warn that criminals are making most of virus outbreak
by Tomohiro Osaki
The National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan is cautioning against a rise in phone calls from fraudsters pretending to be city officials.
Business / Corporate Apr 9, 2020
China corporate governance in doubt after two accounting scandals in week
China’s second accounting scandal in less than a week is underscoring concern over lax corporate governance at some of its fastest-growing companies. TAL Education Group, a tutoring business whose success turned founder Zhang Bangxin into one of China’s richest people, delivered the latest bombshell on ...
National Apr 2, 2020
The National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan said Thursday it had received at least 8,617 consultations related to the novel coronavirus by the end of March. The center received no coronavirus-related consultations in December, but the number has since increased, reaching at least 6,271 in ...
Business Mar 21, 2020
Tax agency bureaus in Japan on high alert for rise in consumption tax fraud
Tax authorities are preparing to act against a possible increase in abuses of a rule that exempts export transactions from sales levies following October's consumption tax hike from 8 percent to 10 percent. The value-added tax is levied at each stage of distribution for goods ...
National / Crime & Legal Mar 17, 2020
Ringleader in bogus Tokyo land sale slapped with 12-year sentence
The man considered the ringleader of a 2017 bogus Tokyo land sale plot that targeted home builder Sekisui House Ltd. was sentenced by the Tokyo District Court to 12 years in prison on Tuesday. Prosecutors had sought a 15-year prison term for Maiku Uchida, 66, ...
National / Crime & Legal Mar 16, 2020
Fraudulent lenders on social media exploit virus crisis in Japan
Authorities are warning consumers about a growing number of fraudulent lenders who are attempting to use the ongoing COVID-19 crisis as an opportunity to prey on borrowers via social media. Most such scams apparently involve individual lenders who are not registered to provide such services. The ...
National / Crime & Legal Feb 25, 2020
Japanese men detained in Manila over alleged ¥1.5 billion phone scam brought to Japan
Nine of 36 Japanese men detained in Manila over alleged phone scams were transported to Japan and arrested by Tokyo police on Monday. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department said Ryo Imaizumi, 27, and eight other men were members of a fraud syndicate that may have ...
National / Crime & Legal Feb 20, 2020
Losses in Japan from cash card collection scams surged in 2019
Losses from cash card collection scams more than doubled in 2019 from the previous year, with swindlers posing as police officers or bank workers visiting victims' homes and tricking them into handing over their cards, a police report showed Thursday. The scams netted ¥5.21 billion ...
National / Crime & Legal Feb 19, 2020
Moritomo Gakuen couple in Abe cronyism scandal found guilty of fraud
The former head of a nationalist school operator and his wife were found guilty of receiving ¥56.4 million in government subsidies illegally for the construction of an elementary school.
National / Crime & Legal Feb 18, 2020
Nine arrested for illegally collecting money for food business Kefir
Nine people were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of illegally collecting money for a food product sales business run by a Tokyo-based mail-order service company that filed for bankruptcy in 2018, police said. Hideya Kaburaki, 84, former head of the company, Kefir Inc., and the eight ...