"Convert Deposited Money Into Gold Bars": New Voice Phishing Scam Spreads in Japan

A new type of voice phishing scam is on the rise in Japan, in which criminals demand and extort gold bars instead of cash to evade financial authorities' account tracking.

According to the National Police Agency, as cited by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun on the 23rd, the total damage from gold-related scams reached approximately 5.8 billion yen (about 52.5 billion won) last year, followed by another 4.5 billion yen in just the first five months of this year.

This brings the cumulative damage over the past two years to over 10 billion yen.

Recently in Tokyo, an 80-year-old woman was swindled by individuals posing as police officers and handed over 1 kilogram of gold bars (worth approximately 200 million won) to a 20-year-old collection agent of Taiwan nationality.

The collection agent told police, "I received instructions via a mobile app from someone I have never met."

Criminal organizations have been posing as police or National Tax Agency officials, telling victims, "Criminal proceeds have been deposited into your account. Since it has been exploited for crime, you need to launder the funds," ordering them to convert cash into gold bars before sending collectors to pick them up.

The surge in this type of crime is believed to be a result of major Japanese banks significantly strengthening remittance monitoring, such as immediately freezing accounts suspected of illegal activity by sharing information with police.

In addition to the criminal organizations' intent to evade investigative authorities, the recent surge in gold prices is also cited as a factor behind the increase in gold bar fraud.

Gold bar extortion scams have also been occurring in countries like the United States and Singapore—prompting the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to issue warnings stating that "the government never asks you to buy gold bars"—raising vigilance among law enforcement authorities worldwide.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.