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Yomiuri Shimbun file photo The Metropolitan Police Department
The Yomiuri Shimbun
14:12 JST, January 5, 2025
Last year, Tokyo saw a surge in special fraud cases wherein perpetrators impersonated police officers, claiming a warrant had been issued for the victim’s arrest in order to swindle money from them, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.
A total of 594 cases were reported between January and November 2024, with damage amounting to approximately ¥4.178 billion — about 250 times the amount recorded during the same period of the previous year.
Special fraud is a crime in which the perpetrator pretends to be a relative or an employee of a public institution through such means as telephone calls in order to swindle money from victims.
Fraud in which images including fake arrest warrants are shown on the Line app after initiating contact via phone call is occurring frequently across the country. According to the Metropolitan Police Department, the number of these special fraud cases has gradually increased since January last year, amounting to around 100 cases per month from September to November. Damage incurred from these cases accounted for about 30% of all special fraud, or about ¥11.8 billion, between January and November last year.
About 70% of cases involved direct calls to cellphones, with perpetrators making claims such as they were conducting an investigation via the Line app. Then, fake images of a police badge or an arrest warrant were sent, and victims were made to transfer money as bail or fines. Those in their 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s each accounted for 20% of the victims, while those in their 20s made up 10%. Unlike typical special fraud, which often targets the elderly, the scheme is aimed at working-age generations.
A man in his 60s who lives in Suginami Ward, Tokyo, received a phone call from a perpetrator claiming to be an Osaka prefectural police officer. The perpetrator falsely claimed that an arrest warrant for the man had been issued, and urged him to transfer money to check the serial number.
Switching communication to the Line app, the perpetrator gave the amount to send and swindled him out of about ¥80 million over multiple transfers.
“Police officers never send images of an arrest warrant or a police badge,” a senior official of the Metropolitan Police Department said. “If you receive a suspicious call, consult your local police station.”
