Losses from 'It's me' phone fraud on the rise

Losses caused by the so-called "It's me" phone fraud have risen recently, the National Police Agency said Thursday.

The NPA detected 273 cases during a one-month period ending Nov. 15 during a crackdown on the fraud, 11.4 percent higher than the average monthly figure between January and September, it said.

Fraudsters using this ruse call the victim, often an elderly person, identifying themselves as relatives in trouble and in need of cash, prefacing their calls with: "It's me." Their targets are then told to transfer funds.

Losses totaled ¥496 million, during the period, 17.5 percent higher than the average monthly figure during the previous nine months, according to the NPA.

The NPA hopes to cut to less than ¥3.7 billion losses suffered in the latter half of the year by victims of billing frauds, including the phone scam. That would be a drop of two-thirds compared with the previous year. But losses from July through Nov. 14 have already reached ¥3.39 billion.

"It has become very difficult to achieve the target," a senior NPA official said.

Toughen penalties under the customs law are in the works for smuggling of illegal drugs in the wake of a surge in scandals involving such substances, according to government officials.

The Finance Ministry said Wednesday it will submit a bill to revise the law during the ordinary Diet session that begins early next year. The move follows high-profile scandals in which entertainers have been arrested for drug violations.

At a ministry panel meeting Wednesday, participants agreed to extend the maximum prison term for drug smugglers under the law from the current seven years, the officials said.

The Finance Ministry plans to consult with the Justice Ministry about the tougher penalties before drawing up the bill, they said.

Representatives of law enforcement agencies from Japan and Southeast Asian countries agreed Wednesday that they need to enhance multilateral cooperation to deal with sex crimes, including child pornography and human-trafficking for sexual purposes.

A participant from Thailand said that around 25,000 children are sexually exploited in the country and called for stepped up international cooperation to catch criminals, many of whom use the Internet and international organized crime syndicates to commit crimes.

A Cambodian official proposed joint training sessions to enhance protection of crime victims and to share investigation techniques.

The seminar comes amid discussions in Japan over whether to revise the law banning child prostitution and pornography, as the country is often criticized for its lax sex crime laws.

Last year, the NPA handled a record 676 violations of the law. But possession of child pornography is not a crime in Japan, something that has drawn criticism from other countries.

Takahide Tatsumi, head of the NPA's public safety bureau, agreed on the importance of cooperation during the seminar, saying this will help Japanese authorities to clamp down on Japanese involved in prostitution in Southeast Asia.