662m yen stolen in cryptocurrency remittance fraud cases in Japan in 2017

March 22, 2018

Tokyo- Some 662.4 million yen was stolen last year in a total of 149 remittance fraud cases targeting cryptocurrency accounts held by individual customers in Japan, police said Thursday.

The growing popularity of cryptocurrencies and their surging value made such accounts targets of remittance fraud, the National Police Agency said.

The NPA compiled annual data on cryptocurrency remittance fraud for the first time. Last year's cases involved accounts opened at 19 exchanges in Japan and abroad, it said.

Of the total damage, 453.5 million yen involved Ripple, 194.4 million yen Bitcoin, 5.3 million yen Ethereum and 9.2 million yen NEM and others.

No cases were reported in January-March last year. Seven cases were reported in April and the number hit 41 in June. The figure stayed below 20 the following five months before rising to 25 in December.

Police have been unable to identify suspects in any of the cases.

Many cryptocurrency exchanges recommend customers to utilize multifactor authentication systems for identity confirmation. But the systems were not used in over 80 percent of the total fraud cases.

The NPA said the number of remittance fraud cases involving Internet banking totaled 425 last year, with about 1,081 million yen in total damage. They included 24 cases in which funds were illegally remitted to accounts at cryptocurrency exchanges through electronic payments.

The number of Internet banking remittance fraud cases fell to less than one-fourth of a peak level and the amount of damage shrank to about one-third, thanks chiefly to the use of one-time passwords, the NPA said. Jiji Press