Fraud in Japan

Never heard about it until I read this post (Never happened to my family, hopefully). 

That is quite a sum of money. I still wonder why some people don't find it weird that the person gives his/her account number like that (I know, that is the centre of the problem and if people were aware enough, this would never work).

Hopefully my family knows I would never do that kind of stuff, so they don't fall in such a simple trap.

Being aware and transmitting information for avoiding cases like that is the key, as for all scams.

I just hope that that old woman gets all of her money back.

(ID #60562) Posted on 2007/10/22 23:37

reply to D_Blade's comment

We have a similar type of fraud here. Criminals (very popular under immigrants from certain regions of Europe) go to senior houses and ring the door bell. If the old person opens the door they start to tell a very said story and ask for (a lot of) money. In most cases the old person starts to feel compassionate and goes with them to an ATM and takes up a lot of money and gives it to them. In some cases these criminals come back to their victim with another said story to ask for more money!

(ID #60566) Posted on 2007/10/23 00:08

reply to JapanAnime's comment

wow, that old lady must be rich. but sadly these things do happen and it's discouraging and sad. 

(ID #60568) Posted on 2007/10/23 00:35

reply to qingy's comment

Happens here every now and then, though mostly involving foreigners or those get rich quick scams.

(ID #60569) Posted on 2007/10/23 00:46

reply to Shin's comment

Sad that we live in a world like this.  To trick the elderly too is pretty bad.

(ID #60571) Posted on 2007/10/23 01:59

reply to syrix's comment

While most of the stuff near me is insurance fraud and things like that I'm sure this goes on as well.

(ID #60572) Posted on 2007/10/23 02:00

reply to alucrid's comment

We have scams here all the time, only over here we call it "The Government". :P

(ID #60576) Posted on 2007/10/23 02:09

reply to CyruzDraxs's comment

That's actually stupid in a smart way, or smart in a stupid way...

(ID #60580) Posted on 2007/10/23 03:12

reply to skankywonders's comment

My friend tried one of those *Answer Question and get a free Xbox 360* things on the internet, and he ended up $450 in debt. I can't believe that he would actually try one of those things!

(ID #60582) Posted on 2007/10/23 03:26

reply to Trent's comment

well, luckily, that boy is not in America...  B/c probably, he would get gang raped in prison if he is caught...

(ID #60587) Posted on 2007/10/23 03:44

reply to Barsona's comment

I hardly hear of this type of crime here in Australia, but we do get quite a bit of those lame ones where people have died, and need to transfer his account of x amount and by helping by providing your account we'll give 10%...

(ID #60588) Posted on 2007/10/23 03:45

reply to Aya Kyunik's comment

wow, tat boy was genius, he should go study social engineering.... Im not sure have or not in my country, but i believe it exist...

(ID #60590) Posted on 2007/10/23 03:50

reply to notfair's comment

Sorta looks to me like God has forsaken her...

(ID #60597) Posted on 2007/10/23 04:22

reply to Briant's comment

fraud also exists here and it victimizes naive people. the most common victims of fraud would be people who came back from other countries and swindle them money which they've earned working overseas

(ID #60599) Posted on 2007/10/23 04:29

reply to Henry's comment

so its yen its 23000000 so in canadians thats like... 23000000 / 100 (according to the very old one) thats like 230,000!! -.-". you can literally buy half a house with that much money here ... but for my case a lot of figures, model kit and probably a new lab top + a desk top... wow...(and still have a lot left to throw them in the pacific ocean... hmm in a lake or spread them to the world through the use of throwing the money up into the sky)

(ID #60603) Posted on 2007/10/23 06:08

reply to シャキー's comment

kinda reminds me of a dull, evil version of kurosagi

(ID #60611) Posted on 2007/10/23 08:17

reply to TaQme's comment

I always hate people who prey on others' sympathy and concern for others for their own benefits, especially teenagers who cheat on parents and old folks or steal money from them >_

(ID #60612) Posted on 2007/10/23 08:48

reply to ngee_khiong's comment

these people are brilliant i will give this trick a try at once and see how much i can get

(ID #60614) Posted on 2007/10/23 09:09

reply to achraf1989's comment

hah, this kind of thing wouldn't work to all level of ages in my country

but in exchange of that, there is more brute crime action instead, most of them killed its prey

(ID #60615) Posted on 2007/10/23 09:10

reply to hendrik's comment

Incidentally, what happens here is exactly like you described it. Maybe us Singaporeans learned to take a leaf from the Japanese...

(ID #60619) Posted on 2007/10/23 10:28

reply to AK-kun's comment

Most crime here happens in person... the only exception seems to be those 'you have won X. send so and so to this address to receive your prize' scams

(ID #60620) Posted on 2007/10/23 10:44

reply to Deranged's comment

「わたしわたし詐欺」はずいぶん前からありますよー。
おれおれの方が語呂がいいから話題に上がり続けているんじゃないでしょうかね。
http://www.google.co.jp/search?hl=ja&safe=off&client=firefox&rls=org.mozilla%3Aja%3Aofficial&hs=RXb&q=%E3%82%8F%E3%81%9F%E3%81%97%E3%82%8F%E3%81%9F%E3%81%97%E8%A9%90%E6%AC%BA&btnG=%E6%A4%9C%E7%B4%A2&lr=lang_ja

(ID #60623) Posted on 2007/10/23 11:26

reply to 最低人間's comment

a similar case happened here in singapore once. 

a con man called up an elderly pretending to be her son's friend and told her that her son met with an accident and needed money urgently for medical operation. he then instructed the elderly to deposit a sum of money into a bank account as soon as posible.

luckily at the bank, the bank officer sensed something was fishy as the elderly couldn't answers his questions like who the account holder was. 

after much pursuing, the elderly told the officer everything and the officer suggested to the elderly to give his son a call. she did as was told and found her son was perfectly alright.

the con man was later caught by the police.

(ID #60627) Posted on 2007/10/23 12:09

reply to gordon's comment

I think there was something in the US that was on the news a while back.  Some guy was calling NFL (American Football) players to ask for money transfers while pretending to be a friend in need.  I think one player got suspicious and called the cops.  They busted him after some kid he paid tried to pick up the cash or something like that.

(ID #60639) Posted on 2007/10/23 14:17

reply to don's comment

not too bright in my opinion...

(ID #60641) Posted on 2007/10/23 14:29

reply to Kirakun's comment

Never heard of something like this in Belgium... But I don't know if people would fall for that here.

(ID #60647) Posted on 2007/10/23 16:45

reply to Hatix's comment

Never knew little boys did it

(ID #60648) Posted on 2007/10/23 17:22

reply to Timerswing's comment

D_Blade, shes not getting her money back. This happens all the time in the US. Its very hard to track people this way, and usually they finally find the account, but its empty. Identity theft is even scarier. Its a huge problem in the US. People steal your information, and pretend to be you while they set up new credit cards, buy cars, default on payments.. pretty scary.

(ID #60654) Posted on 2007/10/23 18:14

reply to DRAGUN's comment

It happens around here all the time.  I'm surprised though that it even works coz if somebody ever tries anything like that with me there's no way that it would work.  I mean c'mon!

(ID #60657) Posted on 2007/10/23 18:26

reply to BeLe's comment

Oh does it ever happen here in the states.  Like DRAGUN pointed out, Identity Theft is what scares most Americans.  It takes so long to fix once it happens to someone...

(ID #60665) Posted on 2007/10/23 20:34

reply to Edward's comment

that kind of fraud really is something. i hope that kind of scheme won't work on me. come on, its because i'm so easy go lucky.you be careful out there people. 

(ID #60675) Posted on 2007/10/23 21:48

reply to Uru's comment

People would never fall for that here in Brazil... but something way worst happens around here.

It's kinda similar, but way worse. Fake abductions. Actual prisioners (yes, inmates) manage to get cellphones, call people around midnight, and start screaming stuff like: "DAD, DAAD, THEY GOT ME DAD, PLEASE DAD, DON'T LET THEM HURT ME!!!".
Then, comes someone else as a violent criminal threatening the "kid"'s life or something.

They probably do that several times, and keep trying 'till they get lucky and finally convince someone that the whole thing is truth.

Unfortunately, it's very frequent and authorities are helpless to find a way to punish or even just plain stop that.

Criminal system and law just sucks in Brazil. Even more considering how many actual unpunished criminals we have in politics.

I already got one of those calls. Thing is, I'm very careful with those, and also... "I DON'T HAVE A F*CKING SON" 

(ID #60683) Posted on 2007/10/23 23:04

reply to XSportSeeker's comment

XSportSeeker,
That sounds horrible.

最低人間さん、
情報をありがとうございました！
コメントを見るとシンガポールもオレオレ詐欺があるみたいですね。ブラジルの誘拐版も特に怖い。

(ID #60690) Posted on 2007/10/23 23:19

reply to Danny Choo's comment

Has anybody here seen the japanase series "Prayer Beads" (omoinotama)? One of the episodes is called "It's me" and the plot is precisley this kind of scam (plus a supernatural twist).

In Mexico they have tried many different kinds of scams similar to these. In one variant the conman rings you in your cellphone saying that he is from the cellphone company checking your line and that you should turn it off for a couple of hours. Once you do that he will call your family asking for a ransom for you. Since your cellphone is off many people would think that this is actually true. Usually this kind of things last for a couple of weeks and then they switch to another variant once the media gets a hold of the story. Disclaimer: I've been in the USA for 3 years now so I don't know if this keeps happening too often.

(ID #60700) Posted on 2007/10/24 00:14

reply to llorchTHX's comment

A similar thing happens in Argentina, my home country, as shown in the film Nine Queens.

The principle of the scam is the same as the Ore Ore: you trick an old person into thinking you're the grandchild/nephew and that you need money.

The con requires two people. One will pretend to be the young relative, and will ring up a random flat in a building (by ring up I mean ring the intercom, these are easily accessible in most apartment buildings from outside the front door). They will say something like "Hi auntie/granma?". Eventually, they get someone that goes "is that you, ?".

The con will then tell that person that they are in a car and that they need money to pay for repairs as it broke down not far from there. Then after the car question is cleared up (the supposed youngster may not have a car, so the con has to be smart and pretend it's borrowed or something), the first con artist will say they need to go back and look after the car, and will ask the elderly relative to give the money to a friend who will stay behind.

The elderly person then comes out, and gives the money to the second con, never actually meeting the first one.

Similar con, only riskier since it's in person, and requires two people. Still though, no bank account necessary.

(ID #60736) Posted on 2007/10/24 09:57

reply to R.E. Silvera's comment

Yeahh its called Identity Theft. Instead of conning you into doing something, someone steals your name, your reputation, and your bank account to do what they want with it.

It is a felony and the consequence is hard jail time and a life of being labeled for the crime.

(ID #60807) Posted on 2007/10/24 22:19

reply to -XYZPDQ's comment

There are a number of well known scams over here in my place. It's weird that people still get conned coz the tricks used are well known -highlighted in the media most of the time.

One of em is: A guy (foreigner) would contact you and say he's having trouble getting money (usually millions) out of his country because of the political situation back home. He would then ask you for a favor, to use your bank account as channel for him to transfer the money and he'd promise to give you a portion of that money. Then if you agree to this request, he'd proceed to ask you for a 'small' processing fee (usually a rather large sum actually).

(ID #60858) Posted on 2007/10/25 01:56

reply to Nizmo47's comment

Something exactly like this was on the news two days ago. They told us how to avoid these types of situations (although I doubt I'd be falling for something like that anytime soon). Weird.

(ID #60978) Posted on 2007/10/25 19:56

reply to Johno's comment

it's sound scary.. though most of the time i would just verify twice on $$ issue lol.

(ID #61257) Posted on 2007/10/28 14:02

reply to terry's comment

Poor granny... There's this type of crimes here but not as popular, Singaporeans are too "kiasu" and would ask for your name and address... My dad always ask who is calling before answering "Hello" back...

(ID #70646) Posted on 2008/01/25 07:22

reply to lostandfound's comment

the only type of scam i get like that is the whole "this is (name here) from the bank of africa, and we have unclaimed funds of over $20,000,000 in the accound of the deseaced (name here) on the (Date here) in a plane crashe which killed his/her whole family and we want you to have 30% of this money and i will keep %65 and %5 on tax..." itts wierd i only started getting them after i got a paypal account....

(ID #243253) Posted on 2008/07/21 06:00

reply to Neocoyo_the_one's comment

evil sms and phone call exist everywhere... the most common in my country is "the lottery winner routine" the message said that i've won a lottery and must pay for the prize tax to certain bank account. if they call me i just talk and talk and talk to the guy in the otherside until they turned off their phone (their paying anyway).

(ID #325109) Posted on 2008/10/07 00:48

reply to sayagila's comment

Someone tried to con me once. Haha. Its quite rampant in the Philippines. What they would do is send a text/SMS message to a random number telling that person to send X amount of load/credit to their number. 

But what happened to me was someone hacked a friend's Yahoo! account and logged in Yahoo Messenger to ask me for money so that they can call a relative because of an emergency. The problem was I didn't have that friend's number so I wasn't sure if it really was her. I did give 10 pesos ($0.3). I figured, if it was her then that would be enough to send a text message or call. But no, they wanted a lot more than that. Oh well ^_^ It wasn't her anyway.

(ID #326399) Posted on 2008/10/07 23:09

reply to ~char~'s comment