Japan’s Police to Use AI to Identify Leaders of Tokuryu Crime Groups, Work with Foreign Authorities to Find Bases

The Yomiuri Shimbun

20:00 JST, August 29, 2025

The National Policy Agency has decided to use generative AI to analyze information from investigations into “tokuryu” criminal groups, in a bid to uncover the identities of key people in them. It will also reinforce its partnership with foreign authorities to uncover bases of operations.

Tokuryu are anonymous and fluid criminal groups in which members contacted via social media repeatedly come together to commit crimes and then disperse. Such crimes include special fraud, robberies carried out by those who applied for so-called gray part-time jobs and scouting for malicious male host clubs. Tokuryu groups usually contain masterminds, “fund managers” – who collect the proceeds of the crimes – and recruiters.

Police uncovered 10,105 suspects in tokuryu-related cases last year. Of them, only 1,011 were key figures. Exposing those in the higher echelons of such groups remains difficult, so the NPA is planning to introduce an analysis system using generative AI after launching its tokuryu-related information analysis office in October.

The new system will be used to analyze investigation reports made by police around the country to identify individuals in higher positions in the groups. The AI will also be used to ascertain the complex connections between tokuryu group members. The results will be shared among police divisions across Japan that are working on tokuryu investigations so that the groups will be exposed.

There were a record 13,213 cases of special fraud committed by tokuryu and other groups from January to June, according to a provisional count. The financial damage caused by those cases totaled about ¥59.7 billion, 2.6 times more than during the same period last year.

The NPA will also step up various related efforts, such as the quick dispatching of Japanese investigators overseas when necessary and holding an international conference by inviting officers responsible for special fraud investigations in Southeast Asian countries and regions where tokuryu groups’ base of operations are located.

The NPA on Thursday allocated about ¥4 billion as expenses for countermeasures against organized crime organizations, including tokuryu groups, in its budget request for next fiscal year.