Japanese Citizens Targeted by International Fraud Rings — Experts Warn of Organ Trafficking and Rising Fake Police Scams
Japan is lagging behind in dealing with fraud
The wide-area robbery case carried out by the “Luffy” gang brought the anonymous, fluid criminal group known as “Tokuryu” to public attention. But that threat does not stop at Japan’s borders. At present, Japan has become a target of more organized criminal groups overseas.
Ryo Fujiwara, a nonfiction writer who has reported on the underworld and criminal organizations for many years and who has written numerous screenplays for films and dramas, documents this evolution in his book The History of “Dark Part-Time Jobs”: The Genealogy of “Nameless Crimes” (Ohta Publishing). Meticulously reporting from the dawn of dark part-time jobs to their current internationalization, the book points out Japan’s vulnerabilities to special-purpose fraud. Why is Japan being targeted? We can examine the real mechanics of these criminal schemes through passages from the book and interviews with Fujiwara.
Many of the methods used in the special-purpose frauds now rampant in Japan are already bygone tactics abroad.
“The prototype of the ‘It’s me’ (ore-ore) scam came from overseas. For example, in Europe people move around frequently, so a scam like calling a parent in France pretending to be ‘my son who’s in Germany’ has existed for a long time. Because Japan’s history with such fraud is short, people here lacked immunity, and those schemes worked.” (Fujiwara)
This low immunity to fraud makes Japan an attractive market for foreign criminals. That fact is backed up by concrete data.
“According to research published by the American security firm Proofpoint, of roughly 700 million suspicious emails observed worldwide in May, about 240 million that could be analyzed in detail were targeting Japan. That probably means targeting Japanese people is the easiest option.”
— from The History of “Dark Part-Time Jobs” (quoted hereafter)
Why is Japan so heavily targeted? A Chinese broker appearing in the book, Yuuki (pseudonym), compares Japanese and Chinese temperaments and offers this insight:
“(In China) people wonder: ‘Is this phone call or email okay? Are they lying? Is this a scam?’ But many Japanese people tend to believe quickly. Chinese people always doubt, but Japanese people believe right away.”
The international Tokuryu does not target only wealthy elderly people. Young people on social media saying “I want money” are also prime targets.
“On social media you see impossible job offers like, ‘Resort part-time work in Thailand or the Philippines — earn 100,000 yen in three months, one hour a day.’ These are traps set by overseas Tokuryu.” (Fujiwara)
What awaits those who respond to such postings is an outcome unimaginable under normal Japanese common sense.
Targets for organ trafficking
“For overseas criminal organizations, kidnapped people are both labor and merchandise. In some cases they ultimately get funneled into organ-trafficking routes. It’s not a matter of killing someone if they won’t obey and that’s the end of it — in the end, the organs are sold as products.” (Fujiwara)
The testimony of Yuuki (pseudonym), who appears in the book, corroborates that reality.
“People who don’t follow orders (the Japanese people brought over) get beaten in front of everyone, and in the end they are killed. There’s no other way. It’s the same for men and women. Even if someone escapes, what are they going to do afterward? Swim back to Japan on their own? Fly through the sky? They don’t know the language or the roads — how would they even get to the police or the embassy? Food is scarce. If you give them a lot, they get stronger, want to run away, want to play — they start asking for luxuries. So they feed them maybe once or twice a day. Just water and a little something to eat. It’s important not to give them much.”
What starts as an offhand application for a resort part-time job can become a one-way ticket from which surviving and returning home is nearly impossible.
So why do young people fall into such obvious traps? The book quotes a recruiter known as Aotani (pseudonym), who explains the psychology of applicants to dark part-time jobs and how recruiters screen for easily handled people.
“Anyone who wants a part-time job wants money, so our recruitment always starts with high pay. An hourly wage of ¥1,000 won’t attract them. A normal person would realize that there’s no such perfectly easy job — if such a thing existed, the economy would be in a much better state, right? So we target people with little social experience who don’t care about politics. If decent, responsible workers showed up, they might go to the police at some point, and we don’t want to take that risk. So it’s better for us if stupid people apply.”
People with little life experience who don’t think deeply and who follow orders without question become convenient pieces for criminal organizations. Aotani goes on to explain why such people are useful.
“Stupid people only do what they’re told. In that sense, they simply follow orders. If they get paid for it, they think it’s lucky. That kind of person is convenient for us. Because they don’t think, they’ll do the runner’s job or the carrying job exactly as we tell them.”
Fake Cop Scams to Increase in the Future
Among the many types of fraud schemes, Fujiwara warns that the one Tokuryu groups are most likely to focus on next is the fake police officer scam.
“Impersonating police officers has long existed in places like China — it’s a classic scam. But in Japan, it still feels new and is therefore extremely effective. International crime syndicates are targeting that time lag,” Fujiwara explains.
This so-called classic method actually occurred in Japan 57 years ago — the infamous 300 million yen robbery. In that case, a man disguised as a motorcycle police officer tricked a cash transport vehicle into handing over the money. The case was never solved and remains one of Japan’s biggest unsolved crimes — a lasting trauma for the police. Now, the fake police officer ruse is making a comeback, powered by modern technology.
“Scammers can spoof phone numbers to display 0110 — the police emergency number — and even use video calls. On screen, you see someone in a police uniform sitting in front of what looks like a police station backdrop. It’s convincing enough to fool almost anyone,” Fujiwara says.
The police, acutely aware of how serious this could become, are sounding the alarm. Prefectural police departments across Japan have been issuing unusually strong warnings on social media, urging the public to beware of fake police. For law enforcement, this is more than a crime-prevention campaign — it’s about defending their institutional credibility. The thought of criminals once again tarnishing their image, as in the 300 million yen case, is intolerable.
The biggest obstacle for Tokuryu in deploying this scam in Japan had been the language barrier — but that, too, is eroding.
“Japanese people are very sensitive to unnatural Japanese. Even a slightly broken phrase gives scammers away. That’s why these groups have begun abducting and imprisoning Japanese nationals — forcing them to commit fraud in flawless Japanese,” Fujiwara reveals.
A scam that once duped a cash transport driver decades ago could now be reborn, orchestrated by foreign criminal syndicates. It’s no wonder Japanese police are on high alert.
So how can individuals protect themselves?
Fujiwara’s advice is starkly simple — but effective:
“Do what people overseas already do: ignore suspicious stories. That’s all.Engaging with them at all is the first step into their trap.”
Don’t fall for too-good-to-be-true offers. Don’t respond to suspicious calls or messages. You don’t need counter-hacking skills — just don’t engage.
Behind every sweet promise lies a danger capable of ruining lives. That threat now extends far beyond Japan’s borders. Recognizing that reality, Fujiwara stresses, is the first step toward staying safe.
PHOTO： Shinji Hasuo
