Japanese Police Arrest Two Chinese Nationals Who Managed Japanese Members in Crime Complexes
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As crimes targeting foreigners, including South Koreans, continue to occur in Cambodia, Japan has also launched a large-scale investigation. A group that lured Japanese nationals to Cambodia with promises of "high-paying part-time jobs" using methods similar to those seen in South Korea has been arrested. Evidence has also emerged that Japanese organized crime groups and Chinese criminal organizations are collaborating to commit crimes in Cambodia.
According to Japanese media such as the Asahi Shimbun on October 25, the Aichi Prefectural Police recently arrested two Chinese nationals who were traveling between Cambodia's crime complexes and Japan. The police believe these suspects are connected to the case in which 29 Japanese nationals were arrested in Cambodia in June for participating in voice phishing schemes. The two suspects are said to have acted as leaders, managing the Japanese participants and serving as intermediaries and interpreters within the crime complex.
Twenty-nine Japanese nationals are boarding a flight to Japan at Phnom Penh Airport in Cambodia. They are known to have been involved in crimes such as voice phishing and romance scams at a Cambodian crime complex. Nippon Television.
There is also evidence that the Japanese organized crime group known as the "Yakuza" has been involved in other crime complexes. On October 17, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department arrested three leaders of another voice phishing group operating in a crime complex. The three arrested individuals are Chinese national and company employee Zhen Ling, Japanese national Miyashiro Shohei who is unemployed, and another Chinese national whose occupation has not been disclosed. Zhen is identified as the leader of the Cambodian crime complex and is believed to have amassed criminal proceeds totaling 5 billion yen (approximately 47 billion won) from this operation alone.
Miyashiro has long been associated with other organized crime members who have already been prosecuted for fraud and related charges in Japan. He reportedly operated without a fixed base, making phone calls for up to 12 hours a day from a moving car on highways to avoid police detection while searching for victims.
With the criminal proceeds he collected in Japan, Miyashiro joined forces with Chinese nationals and participated in establishing the Cambodian crime complex in May last year. A police official told NHK, "Two months before establishing their base, Zhen and another gang member made contact in Cambodia," adding, "It is highly likely that Chinese criminal organizations and Japanese organized crime groups were involved in the establishment and operation of the crime complex." The exact location and scale of the crime complex are still under investigation.
According to a recorded phone call released by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, the suspects also impersonated police officers, similar to schemes seen in South Korea. In the fall of last year, they called a man in his 70s living in Okinawa Prefecture using an automated message: "The phone number you have contracted will be suspended in about two hours. If you wish to speak with an operator, please press 1." When the man pressed 1, he was connected to someone posing as a representative of the "Integrated Communications Infrastructure Bureau," who told him, "Spam messages are being sent from your mobile phone. Your personal information appears to have been leaked and misused, so please consult the police immediately," and then offered to connect him to a police department representative.
Next, an automated message stated, "We are connecting you to your local police station via the emergency notification system. Please wait a moment," after which a person impersonating a police officer answered the call and said, "Your phone number and bank account have been used in organized crime. Please cooperate with the investigation," instructing the victim to install a dedicated application and transfer funds. The victim ended up transferring more than 30 million yen (about 28.27 million won) in four separate transactions.
A promotional message from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department warning about various scams and romance scams. Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.
In addition to those who participated in crimes voluntarily, there were also cases where people were lured to Cambodia under the guise of "high-paying part-time jobs." The process was similar to what has been seen in South Korea: criminals advertised on job search websites to recruit people, and when applicants arrived in neighboring countries such as Thailand, they were picked up by car and taken to the crime complexes in Cambodia. Most of those taken to these complexes were tasked with making calls for voice phishing or romance scams. Among those recruited was a university student in his 20s, who managed to escape Cambodia by claiming he needed to return home briefly due to a family member's passing.
As has been reported about crime complexes in South Korea, these individuals testified that their passports were confiscated and they were monitored by armed guards. The complexes were surrounded by walls and reportedly contained convenience stores, entertainment venues, and barbershops. They consistently stated, "There were about 1,000 more people in the crime complex, and others had come from different parts of Asia to make voice phishing calls."
The number of Japanese nationals caught participating in voice phishing and romance scams in Southeast Asia is on the rise. According to the National Police Agency of Japan, from 2019 to last year, a total of 178 Japanese nationals were arrested for participating in crimes at 14 crime complexes across Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia, and Vietnam. In the Philippines alone, 52 people were apprehended at a single crime complex in 2019.
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