Criminals in Japan have shifted their targets from cash to gold bars, tricking victims into buying and delivering gold to them, causing damages exceeding 10,000 billion yen in the past year and a half, following stricter bank transaction scrutiny.
On July 26, 2569 at 11.21:XNUMX a.m., Nikkei Asia reported that Japan is facing a new type of scam where fraudsters trick victims into buying gold bars, which they then deliver to criminals, resulting in losses amounting to billions of yen. Officials believe that stricter crackdowns on money laundering through bank accounts have led criminals to use gold as a new means of moving assets.
In early July, Tokyo police arrested a Taiwanese man in his twenties on charges of tricking an 80-year-old woman into handing over a kilogram of gold bars worth approximately 24 million yen, or about US$146,500.
Police revealed that the scammers called victims, impersonating police and customs officials, and claimed that the victims' bank accounts were being used to receive money related to illegal activities. The criminals then instructed the victims to withdraw all the money from their accounts, buy gold bars, and place the gold under the mailbox in front of their house.
The suspect, disguised as an official from the Financial Services Agency (FSA), collected the gold. He told police he was simply following instructions received via an application from someone he had never met before.
Information from the National Police Agency (NPA) of Japan. specify that The damage from gold bullion-related scams nationwide in 2568 is estimated at approximately 5,800 billion yen, a rapid increase from around 120 million yen in January to approximately 1,680 billion yen in December alone.
The situation is expected to remain severe in 2569, with cumulative damages estimated at around 4,500 billion yen between January and May.
Police believe that scams of this nature are likely carried out by loosely organized criminal networks and are driven by the continuously rising price of gold.
The benchmark gold price for Japan, published by Tanaka Precious Metal Technologies, surpassed 20,000 yen per gram for the first time in October 2568, before surging above 27,000 yen per gram in March 2569. Although the price subsequently declined, it remained above 20,000 yen per gram in July.
Officials also believe the increase in gold fraud cases may be a result of stricter bank account scrutiny to prevent money laundering, with nine major Japanese banks beginning to share information with police to identify and freeze accounts associated with suspicious transactions.
Senior officials of the Japanese National Police Agency. said "Trading in gold bars is more difficult to trace than money transfers between accounts, leading criminal organizations to increasingly use gold as a target."
This phenomenon is not unique to Japan. In the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reported that between 2566 and May 2568, there were at least 1,737 cases where fraudsters used courier services to collect cash or gold bars from victims, resulting in estimated damages of approximately $186 million.
refer : asia.nikkei.com
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