The Latest Method of “Residence Card Counterfeiting,” a New Scheme by Chinese Criminal Groups
A "factory" in a rural area of Chiba Prefecture manufactures 20,000 cards and sells them for about 10,000 yen each. ...... still exists in many locations throughout the country.
An elegant triangular-roofed house in the peaceful countryside of the Boso Peninsula. One would expect to find a happy family living there, but in fact, this building is a factory for counterfeiting “residence cards,” which are issued to foreigners living in Japan as identification cards (first photo).
In September, a joint task force consisting of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, Hyogo Prefectural Police, and five other prefectural police forces arrested five Chinese nationals and a Japanese national for violating the Immigration Control Act by providing forged residence cards to foreign brokers. The police arrested a total of six people, five Chinese nationals, a man and a woman, and a Japanese national, for violating the Immigration Control Act by providing forged residence cards to foreign brokers.
The six had been using the cards as a counterfeiting base at a residence in Asahi City, Chiba Prefecture, where a computerized list of 20,000 foreign customers was found, along with approximately 3,000 counterfeit card slips and 500 hologram stickers. The six are said to have sold up to 140 million yen since August of last year, making it Japan’s largest detection of a counterfeiting ring.
A neighbor of the “factory” mentioned above said, “I saw small children and thought it was a normal family living there. Anyway, I am glad they were arrested. However, it seems that counterfeit residence cards are far from being eradicated.
This arrest is just the tip of the iceberg.
This arrest is just the tip of the iceberg,” said a broker familiar with counterfeit resident card schemes.
In the past, counterfeit residence cards were ordered in Japan and sent to China, where they were made and brought to Japan by international mail. In recent years, however, highly accurate laminators (machines that apply a special film) that press hologram seals onto the card base have become smaller and less expensive, making it possible to perform the counterfeiting process in Japan. Since anyone with the right tools can make a counterfeit card, there are believed to be a number of manufacturing bases throughout Japan.
