Tokyo police have launched a website about tokuryu anonymous and transient criminal groups, which are involved in yami baito illegal jobs and online or other scams classified as special fraud.
The website, made public Tuesday by the Metropolitan Police Department’s division dedicated to cracking down on tokuryū groups, gives details of the latest fraud methods and presents accounts of people who experienced yami baito jobs.
Visitors can listen to recordings of frauduent calls including from a person impersonating a police officer. The Tokyo police hope this will help prevent further damage and participation in special fraud.
In an account shown on the website, a woman in her 20s said she found a job offer online that would let her earn ¥1.5 million ($9,400) to ¥3 million, and that she applied for the work. She added that she traveled to Cambodia without being informed of work details and was assigned to the job of making fraudulent phone calls. This took palce while she was under surveillance in a building surrounded by a high fence with barbed wire. Payments to her stopped during her employment, and the money she received was eventually taken away, according to the account.
Visitors to the website can also read stories of victims, including a man in his 60s who lost about ¥100 million through investment fraud.
The website leads visitors to a special hotline that receives anonymous reports from individuals who know people possibly involved in special fraud and who are worried they may have applied for yami baito jobs without realizing it.
“We want the public to know about tokuryū’s vicious and heinous nature and increase the momentum in the whole society to eliminate (such groups),” said Tetsuya Ueda, strategic planner at the police department.