According to police, two men from Mie Prefecture were involved in a large-scale international scam ring that tricked a Japanese company employee into transferring ¥9.9 million while he was on a business trip in the United States.
On January 14, a 46-year-old man from Suzuka, Mie Prefecture, received a phone call from someone impersonating a police officer. The caller falsely claimed an arrest warrant had been issued against the man for suspected money laundering and that he needed to pay a large sum to clear his name. The victim, believing the claim, transferred nearly ¥10 million to a designated bank account.
Investigators later discovered that the suspects had traveled from Japan to Bangkok in December—departing from Narita and Chubu Centrair International airports—before making their way overland to a known scam operation hub near Myawaddy, Myanmar. This region has become notorious as a base for fraud groups targeting Japanese nationals.
The two men reportedly found the job through Telegram, a secure messaging app often used for clandestine recruiting. They were allegedly lured by offers of high-paying part-time work, which turned out to be part of an elaborate phone scam operation.
Their involvement was further corroborated by a 16-year-old high school student from Aichi Prefecture, who was apprehended in Thailand in February. He too had traveled to the same scam hub, lured by a Telegram contact who offered to teach him programming overseas. The teen obtained a passport in November 2024 and flew to Thailand in December. Under the fraud group’s supervision, he crossed into Myanmar via boat at a river crossing and was taken to a barbed-wire compound.
Police say around 10 Japanese nationals were stationed at the base, where group leaders assigned quotas and pressured members to carry out phone scams by impersonating police officers and other officials.
These types of overseas scam hubs—primarily based in Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines, and Cambodia—have become increasingly active in recent years. In response, Japan’s National Police Agency has ramped up international cooperation. Senior investigators have been dispatched across Southeast Asia to build stronger ties with local authorities and work toward the extradition of suspects.
On April 9, Japanese officials and Thai police leaders agreed to enhance cross-border collaboration in cracking down on these operations.
