Minors’ involvement in special fraud still rife

May 2, 2018

Tokyo- The number of minors who take part in bank transfer scams and other special fraud in Japan is showing no sign of declining, with many youngsters saying they became involved without sufficient thought to get money to have fun.

Gang groups are often the mastermind behind such scams, including "it's me" telephone fraud cases. Some minors claimed that they joined the wrongdoing against their wishes because they were afraid of violence from gang members.

A 19-year-old who repeatedly took part in receiving money from fraud victims said he was told by an older acquaintance that there was a well-paying job. He later learned that the job was to take part in scams.

His identification was taken and he suffered violence when he attempted to run away. He tried to convince himself that he should accept the job because he could make money and because his friends might get beaten up by gang members if he ran away.

The youngster initially felt sorry for the victims but later started to believe that those who get tricked are to blame. He sometimes received as much as around 2 million yen from one victim.

He eventually took part in more than 10 fraud cases. In spring last year, he visited the house of an elderly person as ordered by a higher-ranking member of a fraud group and was arrested by waiting police officers on attempted fraud charges.

Seeing his parents cry when they visited him at a juvenile training school, the young man realized that he had to change. "I want to work and return the money to the victims," he said.

According to Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department, some 8 billion yen was stolen last year in special fraud cases, in which phones are often used to avoid direct contact, in the Japanese capital.

The number of people arrested in the cases came to 593, and around 20 pct of them, or 117, were minors. The percentage of minors has been around 15-20 pct over the past five years.

Hoping to remedy the situation, the MPD launched in January this year a project team led by the deputy superintendent-general for measures against special fraud, including the creation of a DVD collecting stories of regret from youngsters who became involved.

The DVD was shown at a high school in Tokyo in April. The MPD plans to distribute it to every police station later this month so that it can be shown at many other schools as well.

"Gang groups target children without much social experience who can be deceived easily with kind words," a senior MPD official said. "As gang members often use violence to prevent the children from escaping, we ask them never to succumb to any offer in the first place." Jiji Press