TOKYO (TR) – The National Police Agency (NPA) mentioned final week that the entire quantity misplaced by victims of crime rings utilizing unsolicited telephone calls and social media was most on file over the primary half of this yr, experiences NHK (Aug. 1).
Between January and June, fraud rings collected 59.7 billion yen from victims, a determine that’s 2.6 occasions larger than that over the identical interval the yr earlier than. It can be the very best since statistics started being stored in 2004.
The variety of circumstances recorded over that interval (13,213) was additionally a file, the NPA mentioned.
The company is urging warning, as scams involving perpetrators impersonating cops comprise the vast majority of the entire.
“Physical examination”
These forms of circumstances are termed tokushu sagi (“special fraud”), which is carried out on the phone by a caller impersonating an authority determine or a sufferer’s relative.
In video calls, perpetrators posing a police officer will say, “Your mobile telephone is being used for criminal purposes.” They can even present faux police badges and arrest warrants. They then go on to inform victims to ship cash to financial institution accounts.
In years previous, such scams focused the aged. That is not the case.
By age group, the biggest variety of victims have been of their 30s at roughly 21 %, adopted by these of their 20s at round 19 %. These figures point out that youthful generations are additionally falling sufferer to this rip-off, the NPA mentioned.
The NPA added that legal teams are making massive numbers of calls utilizing auto-call programs. In addition to demanding cash, scammers have additionally been seen to interact in lewd acts, comparable to requesting victims to strip bare throughout video calls beneath the guise of a “physical examination.”
The NPA is urging individuals to “be careful, as police officers would never demand money or ask victims to strip naked on social media.”