Tag - organized-crime

 
 

ORGANIZED CRIME

A street in Naha in August. In entertainment districts in southern Okinawa, a drug known as "laughing gas vape" is being abused at nightclubs and bar. Now, some establishments have put up warning notices.
JAPAN / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Sep 22, 2025
Abuse of 'zombie cigarettes' among Okinawa youths raises alarm
"Laughing gas vape," inhaled using devices resembling e-cigarettes, can cause its users to lose control.
Yasuhiro Tsuyuki, former commissioner-general of Japan's National Police Agency, speaks during an interview on Aug. 12 in Tokyo.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 21, 2025
Ex-police chief pins hopes on new 'tokuryū' measures
Conventional methods do not work against such groups because they recruit using encrypted social media apps, making it difficult to identify the ringleaders.
ChatGPT owner OpenAI says it "actively works to identify and disrupt scam-related misuse of ChatGPT.”
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Sep 19, 2025
ChatGPT was used ‘to help scammers do their thing’ at Asia fraud compound
Scammers used the artificial intelligence tool to craft convincing messages designed to trick people into parting with their money.
Akira Sanbonchiku (second from left), a member of the "JP Dragon" crime ring, is transported from the Philippines to Narita Airport in Chiba Prefecture on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Sep 11, 2025
Six 'JP Dragon' crime ring members arrested after extradition from Philippines
Police believe the six have defrauded at least 250 people in 20 Japanese prefectures out of approximately ¥900 million since around October 2019.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio in June.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 7, 2025
U.S. strike on alleged cartel boat shows Rubio’s influence growing
The attack was the culmination of Trump’s yearslong interest in using unprecedented — and legally questionable — force against drug cartels.
Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. walks to the ring for his fight against Jake Paul in Anaheim, California, on June 28.
MORE SPORTS
Aug 25, 2025
Boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. released from prison pending trial
U.S. authorities arrested Chavez in July for being in the United States illegally.
Signs for fast-fashion factories in Prato, Italy, on Friday. Chinese crime groups in the district thrive on the "Prato system" rife with corruption in the fast-fashion sector.
WORLD / Crime & Legal
Aug 4, 2025
Italy's fast fashion hub becomes Chinese mafia battlefield
Gangs are battling to control Prato's production of clothes hangers — a market estimated to be worth €100 million ($115 million) — and the bigger prize of transporting apparel.
The Tokyo District Court on Tuesday sentenced Tomohiro Koyama, who is believed to be the third-highest-ranking member of the "JP Dragon" crime ring, to three years and six months in prison for fraud.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 29, 2025
Senior 'JP Dragon' crime ring member jailed for 42 months
Tomohiro Koyama, 51, is believed to be the third-highest-ranking member of the ring comprising Japanese nationals.
Buildings inside the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone along the Mekong river in the Bokeo province of Laos on May 26.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jul 15, 2025
'Las Vegas in Laos': the riverside city awash with crime
With the initial aim of attracting tourists with casinos and resorts, the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone quickly became a center for money laundering and trafficking.
A video by the National Police Agency warns about fake scams.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 8, 2025
Scams involving police impersonation surge
Victims lost over ¥30 billion to such fraud cases in the first five months of 2025.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 25, 2025
Foreigners rescued from scam centers still stuck along Thai-Myanmar border
The Karen National Army, a rebel group, said it was currently housing 216 people, including citizens of Vietnam, China, the Philippines, and Indonesia.
The International Border Checkpoint of Poipet, Banteay Meanchey province, Cambodia
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jun 24, 2025
Thailand targets Cambodian scam centers amid border dispute
As part of the crackdown, Thailand will ban foreign tourists from crossing over to Cambodia and curb air travel to Siem Reap for gambling purposes, Paetongtarn said.
A police car in Manila. Philippines authorities have detained the suspected leader of the "JP Dragon" crime ring based in the Southeast Asian country.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jun 6, 2025
Philippines detains leader of 'JP Dragon' crime ring
The criminal organization, which includes former Japanese gang members, allegedly worked with another Philippines-based fraud group led by a suspect known as "Luffy."
Authorities in northwestern Cambodia have detained around 50 foreign nationals, including more than 20 Japanese, in a raid targeting online gambling and fraud operations in Poipet.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 29, 2025
Over 20 Japanese reportedly detained in Cambodia in online scam raid
Cambodian investigative authorities conducted a search following a tip-off alleging the presence of Japanese nationals involved in fraud.
Members of Spanish Guardia Civil, supported by Europol, arrest a man (right) during an operation against drug trafficking in Mijas, near Malaga, in June 2024.
WORLD
May 28, 2025
Sun, sand and suspects: Spain tackles fugitives seeking a haven
Criminals from around the globe flock to Spain, but police stress that their chances of evading justice are slim.
Osaka Prefectural Police have arrested two men for allegedly stealing a safe containing roughly ¥100 million ($702,500) from the home of a company president last year.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 27, 2025
Osaka police arrest two men in ¥100 million home burglary
Investigators believe the suspects may have had advance knowledge of both the cash and the location of a spare key inside the home for the safe they stole.
Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department headquarters. Along with the National Police Agency, the MPD will carry out a major reorganization to beef up investigations into tokuryū groups.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 22, 2025
Japan police to launch team targeting tokuryū masterminds
The new police office is set to gather and assess information on tokuryū leaders around the country and identify targets for crackdowns.
Trafficking experts have raised concerns over how satellite internet technology may hamper efforts to crack down on scam centers in Asia.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Apr 25, 2025
Portable internet helps Asia scam centers bypass blackouts
Trafficking experts have raised concerns over how satellite internet technology may hamper efforts to crack down on scam centers.
Tokyo police have arrested three individuals, including 37-year-old Takuya Higuchi, a member of a money laundering group, on suspicion of fraud.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Apr 22, 2025
Tokyo police arrest three believed to have been laundering money for 'Luffy'
One of the three arrested is Takuya Higuchi, 37, a resident of Toyonaka, Osaka Prefecture, whose occupation is unknown.
Multinational victims of scam centers, who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar, stand on a vessel floating towards the Thai side of border via Moei River in Phop Phra District, Tak province, Thailand, on Feb. 12.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Apr 21, 2025
'Cancer' of billion-dollar cyberscam industry spreading globally: U.N.
Even as Southeast Asian governments have intensified a crackdown, syndicates have moved within and beyond the region.

Longform

"Shake hands with Lima-chan," a statue that shares the name of the Peruvian capital looks in the direction of Peru, where a sister statue, "Sakura-chan," is located. Erected in Yokohama's Rinko Park in 1999, it commemorates Peruvian-Japanese friendship.
The journey of Peru’s Nikkei: Finding identity in Japan