Police in Japan to share data on scam accounts with financial firms

The National Police Agency said Thursday it will start an initiative to share data on bank accounts used in scams with financial institutions nationwide amid continued heavy losses from special fraud.

Under the initiative, to be launched Monday, the NPA will ask financial institutions to promptly report customers who have transferred money to such accounts, aiming to identify potential fraud victims at an early stage and enable police officers to intervene to prevent further losses.

According to the NPA, losses from special fraud nationwide totaled ¥261 billion from January to September, up ¥48.3 billion from a year earlier, and were on track to exceed last year’s record high. Social media-based investment scams and fraud schemes involving people impersonating police officers have been particularly prevalent.

Against this backdrop, the NPA will compile a list of bank accounts identified by prefectural police departments across the country as having received funds from fraud victims and share this information via a file-sharing system with 807 financial institutions nationwide that have signed agreements with the agency.

If a financial institution’s transfer records show that a customer has sent money to one of these accounts, the institution will report the customer’s name, address and other relevant information to the NPA.

Since the sender may be an unidentified victim, a police officer with jurisdiction over the area will promptly meet with the person to issue a warning and confirm whether the individual has been defrauded.

Previously, each prefectural police force had individually entered into similar agreements with regional banks and credit unions. With the NPA acting as an intermediary and megabanks and online banks also joining the framework, a system will be established to allow inquiries to be made to financial institutions nationwide simultaneously, the agency said.

The NPA is stepping up efforts to combat fraud in cooperation with financial institutions, aiming to prevent the unauthorized use of bank accounts and stop funds obtained through fraud from being transferred elsewhere.

The NPA has concluded agreements with 20 financial institutions, including megabanks, under which the institutions provide the agency with information on suspicious transactions detected through their monitoring systems. It has also begun checking bank accounts online to speed up the tracing and freezing of stolen funds.