National / Crime & Legal Aug 24, 2020
The prefectural force has taken to warning people against replying to suspicious posts.
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 Aug 12, 2019
Tokyo police use dog walkers to raise awareness among elderly people about fraud cases
Dogs and their owners paraded down streets in Tokyo on Monday to help prevent people from becoming victims of frauds in which swindlers make phone calls pretending to be relatives asking for money. Some 20 dogs, dressed in costumes bearing messages telling elderly people not ...
National / Crime & Legal May 23, 2019
Under Japan's revised anti-gangster law, yakuza boss told to pay damages for money transfer scam
A court on Thursday ordered the head of the Sumiyoshi-kai crime syndicate to pay damages over money transfer scams committed by a fraud group formed by an affiliated gang member. The Mito District Court ordered Isao Seki, head of Japan's second largest crime syndicate, and ...
National / Media | MEDIA MIX Apr 20, 2019
NHK docudrama reveals telephone scam tactics
by Philip Brasor
Thai police last month raided a residence in Pattaya where an alleged telephone swindling operation was taking place. They discovered 15 Japanese nationals suspected of calling retired people in Japan and fooling them into purchasing electronic money. Japanese police say they will arrest the ...
National / Crime & Legal Feb 21, 2019
Damages from 'it's me' and other petty fraud scams in Japan down for fourth straight year
Victims who were age 65 or older stood at 78.0 percent, underscoring the need to focus on senior citizens in taking preventive measures.
National / Media | BIG IN JAPAN Nov 15, 2014
Creative crooks stay one step ahead
by Mark Schreiber
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 ...
National / Crime & Legal Nov 12, 2014
'Jokyo' scam is swindlers' latest ruse as 'ore-ore' fraud hits new record
Cases of fraud involving swindlers pretending to be relatives of victims continue to rise, with the amount of money defrauded topping a record ¥40 billion in the nine-month period through the end of September, police said. A new type of "ore-ore" (It's me, it's me) ...
Editorials Mar 29, 2014
Japanese society may envied in many parts of the world, but there's a fraudulent underside that ripped off consumers in amounts totaling 1.2 percent of the nation's GDP in 2013.
National / Media | MEDIA MIX Feb 12, 2012
Swindlers continue to scam the elderly out of their savings
by Philip Brasor
Recently, my partner renewed her drivers license and was waiting in line to pay her fee. The clerk asked the elderly man waiting in front of her if he wanted to join the Japan Traffic Safety Association for an additional fee. She rattled off ...
National Mar 25, 2010
The Tokyo District Court sentenced the accused mastermind of a massive "ore, ore" remittance scam to 20 years in prison Wednesday for violating the law against organized crime. The court handed down the ruling to Masaki Toda, 31, for bilking elderly and other vulnerable people ...
National Jul 6, 2003
Police have arrested two men on suspicion of swindling two Tokushima Prefecture women out of a total of 4.4 million yen by posing as acquaintances, the police said Saturday. The police also suspect the two have been involved in several hundred similar cases in other ...