The National Police Agency has instructed police headquarters across the nation to intensify the crackdown on organized crime syndicates in response to a spate of "special fraud cases," including so-called "It's me" telephone scams, in which they have been found to have been involved.
The NPA urged police departments to pursue assault and blackmail charges in such cases to weaken the syndicates.
Part of the more than 39.4 billion yen (about 349 million dollars) lost in incidents of special fraud each year is said to have become a source of funding for organized crime syndicates, thus police are planning to make efforts to crack down on such groups.
On June 6, Metropolitan Police Department investigators raided an office of an affiliate of the Yamaguchi-gumi crime syndicate in Yodogawa Ward, Osaka. It is alleged that elderly people were scammed into handing over their cash cards by individuals pretending to be police officers. The police raid was conducted after arrested suspects confessed that "The money was given to a senior member of a crime syndicate."
The people involved in making fraudulent calls appear to be recruited from across the country: The MPD found a manual for the Kansai dialect, which is believed to have been used to target elderly people in the Kansai region. Gang members apparently were involved in scouting copartners to have them make such phone calls.
"A considerable amount of money may have flowed into the crime syndicate," a senior investigator said.
There was a case in which gang members from opposing groups worked together to commit fraud. In a telephone scam identified by the Hiroshima prefectural police in January, gang members from different organized crime groups conspired with each other to control minor criminals who made the phone calls.
Of the 1,325 people police nationwide identified and held in special fraud cases between January and June, 291 belonged to gangs or quasi-gang groups -- up 23 from the same term last year.
With the decline of traditional means for yakuza groups to gain an income -- such as gambling and protection rackets in entertainment districts -- fraud is said to have become a new source for them to earn money.
The roles in fraud groups are divided into those who make phone calls, collect money from victims, as well as a director and recruiters. The swindled funds go to the group's director, who manages the money trail.
They have been known to use water-soluble paper for documents so that any evidence is easily disposable: One group was found to have thrown documents into a bathtub filled with water during a police raid.
The complete destruction of evidence and organized methods are "quite typical of organized crime groups," according to a senior police official. However, it is still difficult for police to reach the core of the groups behind the crimes only by interrogating the bit players who act as money collectors.
Gang member numbers have decreased in recent years, and the number of cases detected concurrently has been on a downward trend.
The NPA has decided not to just focus on building special fraud cases, but instead plans to opt for a flexible application of such criminal charges as assault and blackmail by investigating surrounding issues.
NPA Commissioner General Shunichi Kuryu said during a Tuesday meeting attended by senior investigative officials: "A multi-directional approach is necessary to crack down on the criminal groups, such as gangs and quasi-gangs, behind the cases by making use of the full scope of the law."
Under the latest directive, the NPA also instructed police to gather information about foreign criminal groups and intensify the crackdown on them.
"A shortcut to prevent fraud is to weaken gangs. We'll break boundaries within our organization to gather information" a senior police official said.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
