<figure id="attachment_443912" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 2061px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-443912"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="4ba0515e"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/10/a958ea957913f59019a0fa35a2ecdba3.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-443912" class="wp-caption-text">The inside of the apartment where Iwamoto and four other Japanese men and women were detained. Cigarettes, gum, medicine, and other items were left scattered about, giving the place a lived-in feeling.</figcaption></figure>
<h3>Countless lists were found inside the hideout</h3>
<p data-start="106" data-end="408">On the table surrounded by middle-aged men and women dressed casually in T-shirts and shorts lay stacks of documents, a laptop, smartphones, and a large number of SIM cards scattered around. A large screen hung on the wall, and beneath the stairs leading to the second floor, beer crates could be seen.</p>
<p data-start="410" data-end="588">This is part of the footage taken on the night of October 7, when five Japanese men and women engaged in special fraud operations in the Philippines were detained by authorities.</p>
<p data-start="590" data-end="779">The location was a room in an apartment in a rural area about a three-hour drive south of central Manila. The space was roughly 50 square meters, a maisonette-type unit with three bedrooms.</p>
<p data-start="781" data-end="1055">On the documents, the word list was printed in Japanese at the top left, followed by rows of personal information—Japanese names, birth years, addresses, and phone numbers. A senior official from the Philippine Bureau of Immigration who was present at the scene explained:</p>
<p data-start="781" data-end="1055"><strong>“The five suspects were carrying out special fraud operations in the apartment right up until they were detained. The proof is these personal information lists and the SIM cards.”</strong></p>
<p data-start="1240" data-end="1560">Those detained included suspects Miyako Iwamoto (34) and Norichika Harada (48). Arrest warrants had been issued by the Fukuoka Summary Court in June 2023 on fraud charges for their involvement in a special fraud case in which they posed as police officers over the phone and swindled elderly victims out of cash.</p>
<p data-start="1562" data-end="1992">The five had ties to JP Dragon, a criminal organization of rogue Japanese nationals. This group was also believed to be connected to the “Luffy Robbery Gang,” another special fraud network, and its leader was Ryuji Yoshioka (55), a kingpin of the local underworld. Although Yoshioka was detained in June this year and JP Dragon was thought to have collapsed, remnants of the group had continued their activities in secret.</p>
<p data-start="1994" data-end="2240" data-is-last-node="" data-is-only-node="">Among them, Iwamoto is said to have formed a box (a fraud operation team) within JP Dragon and led the other four members. Some had even begun calling her the female JP Dragon. This charismatic figure, however, had some unusual circumstances.</p>
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<h3>Iwamoto’s shocking secret</h3>
<p data-start="87" data-end="279"><strong>“Iwamoto had a child. A boy about five or six years old. At the time of the arrest, a Filipino accomplice was looking after him, so he wasn’t at the scene.” </strong>(Immigration Bureau official)</p>
<p data-start="281" data-end="446">The whereabouts of the child’s father are unknown. Iwamoto had been committing special fraud while raising her child as a single mother. The same official continues:</p>
<p data-start="281" data-end="446"><strong>“Since the beginning of this year, Philippine investigators have detained at least 16 Japanese suspects involved in special fraud, including Iwamoto’s group. Even so, remnants of JP Dragon are still in hiding, and the No. 2 leader remains at large. Their whereabouts are unknown, and it will take time before the group is completely wiped out.”</strong></p>
<p data-start="796" data-end="964" data-is-last-node="" data-is-only-node="">There are believed to be other hideouts as well. The shadowy organization continues to writhe beneath the surface of Philippine society. (Honorifics omitted in part.)</p>
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<figure id="attachment_443913" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 1990px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-443913"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="8cd0e8b4"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/10/3dff6d1e0a29b5986bbc09c1f5e2c7b2.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-443913" class="wp-caption-text">Iwamoto, who is from Shizuoka, was said to be highly skilled at posing as a Financial Services Agency employee while making scam calls.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_443914" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 2115px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-443914"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="20caaa95"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/10/99abe663f57c13f4778d50a58fab3156.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-443914" class="wp-caption-text">Next to the phone numbers were notes such as young. A large number of SIM cards were also found, suggesting they frequently changed phone numbers.</figcaption></figure>
<figure id="attachment_443915" class="wp-caption aligncenter" style="width: 2143px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-443915"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="ce06b6f6"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/10/6da7d2b14cf49dc3335f7dcef1d42deb.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-443915" class="wp-caption-text">A seized list of personal information.</figcaption></figure>
<p>From the November 7, 2025 issue of &#8220;FRIDAY&#8221;</p>


 Takehide Mizutani

 On October 7, five Japanese men and women who had been running a special fraud operation based in the Philippines were detained. What does it mean that the key persons who have been marked by the authorities have been captured? Writer Takehide Mizutani, who is familiar with the situation, discusses.

Shocking Photos Expose JP Dragon’s Scam Base—Even Parents With Children Involved in Fraud

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