Illegal Recruitment Ring Access Makes 7 Billion Yen: The Role of the Housewife Behind the Operation

The existence of a “Police Countermeasure Manual”

In April of this year, a joint task force of police from five prefectures, including the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, arrested Kazuma Endo (33), the representative of the scout group “Access,” and Noriko Ikoma (32), who was responsible for managing the group’s operations, on suspicion of violating the Employment Security Act.

“Access allegedly recruited women through social media and arranged for them to work at soaplands and deliver health services across the country, receiving introduction fees. It is said that over the past five years, they made approximately 7 billion yen in revenue. Endo has already been charged with violating the Employment Security Act, and this is his seventh arrest. Ikoma is also being re-arrested,” said a reporter from a national newspaper’s social section.

At its peak, Access is said to have had around 300 members. How did they recruit women?

“Access operated a website exclusively for their scout members called ‘2 Channel,’ which listed information about approximately 1,800 adult entertainment businesses in 46 prefectures (excluding Shimane). The site included details about the type of establishment, the conditions they were looking for in women, the compensation, and contact information for the responsible individuals.

Scouts would ask the women they recruited about their desired work locations and conditions and then send them to businesses that matched those preferences. ‘2 Channel’ allowed reviews to be posted for each store, and scouts would use this as a reference,” said the same source.

As Access grew, a “Police Countermeasure Manual” was created.

“With input from lawyers, a disclaimer was included that stated things like, ‘If arrested, say you want to contact a lawyer named XXX,’ ‘Thoroughly remain silent,’ ‘Do not sign anything unless it’s your own judgment,’ ‘Say scouts were freelancers acting individually,’ and ‘Claim you started because you saw many scouts on social media and thought you could do it too.’ The manual included various countermeasures to be taken when arrested. Members were strictly required to follow the manual to prevent the investigation from reaching the higher-ups in the organization even if members were apprehended,” said an investigator.

From a regular housewife to a key figure in a scout group

However, in November of last year, Endo, the representative of Access, was arrested on suspicion of violating the Employment Security Act. After that, Ikoma took over the operation of the group.

“Ikoma joined Access in May 2021. She applied after seeing an SNS job advertisement for high-income work from home. She initially worked as a part-time scout, and later became a full-time member. However, she wasn’t making much money as a scout. She strongly pushed for a position in operations, and eventually moved to the back office.

In the operations role, she quickly rose to prominence. While managing household chores and raising children at her home in Hashimoto City, Wakayama Prefecture, she took charge of the group. It seems that she was responsible for conducting interviews for the women recruited by scouts, providing aftercare, handling disputes with the businesses, and calculating salaries for the scouts” (investigation source).

Access, the scout group with even ordinary housewives involved, is now revealing its full scope.