Tag - fraud

 
Menu
Search
 
October 30, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

FRAUD

Alleged scam center workers and victims from China, who were handed over from Myanmar, board a plane at Mae Sot Airport in Mae Sot in Thailand's Tak province on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 21, 2025
China flies home first nationals from Myanmar ‘scam centers’
The repatriation is part of a multinational effort to stamp out the centers, a transnational criminal industry that has found havens in Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia.
Tokyo police have arrested the president of a computer retailer in the capital for allegedly having Chinese students studying in Japan buy MacBooks using a student discount at Apple Stores for the purpose of reselling them overseas.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 20, 2025
Police arrest computer retailer head over MacBook student discount scheme
Zhao Zhicheng, 35, allegedly had students from China studying in Japan buy the Apple computers at a discount for the purpose of reselling abroad.
The eastern Myanmar state of Kayin seen from Mae Sot in northwestern Thailand in May
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 19, 2025
Japanese boy says he was forced to work at scam center in Myanmar
The boy said that he was given electric shocks when he refused to take part in the fraud.
The Thai Royal Police held a meeting on Monday in Bangkok with representatives from 18 countries, including Japan, as well as international organizations like the United Nations regarding the transnational scam operation.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 18, 2025
Japanese nationals thought to be held captive at Myanmar-Thailand border
Foreign nationals from several countries have been held at the border and forced to participate in a variety of scams.
A general view of Myanmar from Thailand's side of the border, in Mae Sot district, on Feb. 5.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 15, 2025
Teen says several more Japanese nationals involved in frauds in Myanmar
Thai authorities took the 16-year-old teenager into custody in Mae Sot, in northwestern Thailand, this month, and are looking into the details of the situation.
Artificial intelligence is fast becoming 'a new tool in the toolkit of scammers' preying on individuals looking for love online.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 14, 2025
Got a digital crush this Valentine's? Beware of scams, says Meta.
At a Feb. 12 briefing, Meta outlined a recently disrupted romance scam that originated in Cambodia and targeted people in Chinese and Japanese languages.
Police believe there is a bigger party involved in making and selling counterfeit products behind the latest arrest of three suspects.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 13, 2025
Osaka police arrest three for online sales of counterfeit eyelash serum
As the products were shipped from China, police believe there is a bigger party involved in making and selling counterfeit products.
A new scam causing concern in Japan starts out simple, but when victims request to continue, they are instructed to set up an account on a certain app or website where they are to enter their personal information.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 12, 2025
Japan's consumer watchdog raises alarm over new social media scam
The deceptively innocent scheme requires users to do one simple thing to earn some extra cash: take screenshots of videos.
Ippei Mizuhara, former interpreter for Shohei Ohtani, leaves the courthouse in Santa Ana, California, on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 7, 2025
Ohtani's ex-interpreter Mizuhara sentenced to nearly five years in prison
The case involved the illegal transfer of nearly $17 million from the star's account to pay off gambling debts.
Investigators pursue a criminal case in the town of Oshima in Tokyo in January.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 6, 2025
Concern over crime grows in Japan as cases rise for third straight year
The most drastic increase was seen in the number of fraud cases, which numbered 57,324 — up 24.6% from the previous year and with a total of ¥307.5 billion in damages recorded.
According to the Metropolitan Police Department, the former employee has admitted to the allegation, telling investigators that he used the name brand of Nomura Securities to commit the fraud.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 6, 2025
Former Nomura employee arrested for suspected fraud
The former employee of Nomura Securities is suspected of defrauding a client of ¥10 million with a fake investment offer.
Kinuko Iwamoto (center), former chancellor of Tokyo Women's Medical University, inside a police car in Tokyo on Jan. 13
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 3, 2025
Ex-Tokyo medical school chancellor served new warrant over payments
Iwamoto, 78, is suspected of committing a breach of trust, allegedly making the university fraudulently pay a total of around ¥170 million in consulting fees on multiple occasions.
Phishing and its social-engineering cousin "pretexting" together accounted for more than 20% of almost 10,000 data breaches worldwide last year.
WORLD / Society
Jan 30, 2025
Age of deepfakes means internet users must be more alert than ever
AI chatbots powered by large language models save attackers time and allow for more elaborate fake messages.
Ippei Mizuhara, the former interpreter for baseball star Shohei Ohtani, walks outside the federal court in Santa Ana, California, on June 4.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 24, 2025
57 months in prison sought for Ohtani's ex-interpreter
"This kind of betrayal and greed calls for a significant term of imprisonment," prosecutors argued.
National Police Agency Commissioner-General Yasuhiro Tsuyuki speaks during a news conference on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 23, 2025
Japan police agency sets rules for fake IDs in undercover yami baito probes
Investigations involving the use of fake IDs will target crimes such as robbery, special fraud, investment fraud and romance fraud.
A 17-year-old student from Kanagawa Prefecture has been arrested for allegedly creating a program that purported to verify the validity of credit cards and using it to illegally obtain their details.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 22, 2025
Kanagawa high school student arrested for credit card data theft
The 17-year-old male student is accused of creating a program that purported to verify the validity of credit cards and using it to illegally obtain their details.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba entering the Prime Minister's Office on Monday
JAPAN
Jan 21, 2025
Japan to disclose names of malicious AI businesses
The planned legislation on dealing with the risks of AI and boosting Japan's international competitiveness on the technology is not expected to include penalties.
Suspect Kenichi Hosoya, who was rearrested, enters Asakusa Police Station on Friday in Tokyo's Taito Ward. The handcuffs and waist ties are blurred for privacy reasons.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 17, 2025
Tokyo couple re-arrested in ¥26 million insurance fraud murder case
The couple had already been arrested four times last year for allegedly murdering four family members.
Hino Motors was charged with fraud in the U.S. District Court in Detroit for unlawfully selling 105,000 heavy-duty diesel engines in the United States from 2010 through 2022 that did not meet emissions standards.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 16, 2025
Hino Motors reaches $1.6 billion U.S. diesel emissions settlement
Hino said it booked an extraordinary loss of ¥230 billion in its second quarter results in October to cover the expected costs of resolving the litigation.
A street in Pattaya, Thailand
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 15, 2025
Thai police arrest Japanese man over ¥1.36 billion retiree scam
The scam involved fraudsters impersonating Japanese government staff to sell bogus health insurance packages, according to the police statement.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell
Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
At first summit with Trump, Takaichi pledges 'new golden age' for alliance
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi raises her fist as U.S. President Donald Trump delivers a speech in front of U.S. Navy personnel on board the U.S. Navy's USS George Washington aircraft carrier at the American naval base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Tuesday.
Abe shooting suspect Yamagami pleads guilty to murder
Members of the media gather outside the Nara District Court in the city of Nara on Tuesday hours before the start of the trial of Tetsuya Yamagami, the man accused of fatally shooting former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in July 2022.
Takaichi buys time and builds trust with ‘near-perfect’ Trump summit
U.S. President Donald Trump walks with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi aboard the USS George Washington aircraft carrier during a visit to the U.S. Navy's Yokosuka base in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Tuesday.
JPYC, world’s first yen stablecoin, is issued
Noritaka Okabe, head of Japanese startup JPYC, at a news conference for the first yen stablecoin in Tokyo on Monday
Oasis returns to Tokyo: Rain, rapture and rock
Fans wait to get into the Oasis show at Tokyo Dome on Saturday. While lining up in the rain, some broke into impromptu versions of the British rock group's hits.
Kyushu banzuke sets the stage to cement 2025’s sumo narratives
Onosato ahead of his bout against Aonishiki at The Grand Sumo Tournament at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Oct. 18
Tokyo Film Festival opens with global stars and a spotlight on Asian storytelling
Director Junji Sakamoto (left) walked the Tokyo International Film Festival red carpet with Sayuri Yoshinaga (center) and Non (right), who both play mountaineer Junko Tabei, the first woman to summit Mount Everest, in the biopic "Climbing for Life."
Spanish artist and Japanese writer duos diversify the manga talent pool in Japan
"Menheim” is a dark fantasy manga with a story that centers on a girl’s quest to find a cure for her ill brother.
Japan’s youth are apathetic toward the climate crisis. Could anime change that?
“Future Kid Takara,” a series of anime shorts to be aired on NHK Educational TV in November, attempts to educate children about climate change.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Mamoru Iwai, stationmaster of Keisei Ueno Station, says that, other than earthquake-proofing, the former Hakubutsukan-Dobutsuen (Museum-Zoo) Station has remained untouched.
Inside Tokyo's 'phantom' stations — and the stories they tell
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo
Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER