warnings and asking financial institutions to freeze deposit accounts designed as accounts to receive money transfers.

Between February and March 2009, police issued a total of 48,758 warnings to 5,262 telephone circuits used in Furikome frauds (extortion). In 2008, police also filed a total of 31,079 requests with financial institutions to freeze deposit accounts used in Furikome frauds (extortion).

### e. Thorough measures against bases of crimes

Police are making use of all aspects of police activities, including routine home visits by community police officers, to find out bases of crimes and also utilizing all pieces of information provided by citizens by consolidating them at investigation divisions for Furikome frauds (extortion) for use in investigations to arrest criminal groups.

### f. Creation of an environment for efficient investigations

Quite different from crimes like homicides and larcenies, Furikome frauds (extortion) are crimes carried out with perpetrators lurking somewhere in society and not appearing on the scenes. As such, initial investigations do not usually produce any evidence, including eyewitness testimonies, fingerprints or other particles, that link perpetrators to offenses. In these difficult investigations, phones used to deceive victims and deposit accounts designated for fund transfers provide one of a few clues.

Images captured by security cameras installed at places where defrauded money was withdrawn, found through investigations into deposit accounts are very important in identifying perpetrators. However, in many cases, the lapse of the period of retaining these records while necessary investigations are under way, make it impossible to obtain materials needed for investigations.

In order to deal with such problems and ensure the arrests of perpetrators, police are trying to develop an environment to secure the traceability of crimes and make investigations more efficient by obtaining the understanding and cooperation of business corporations and financial institutions to broaden their contact points for police inquiries and realize prompt replies to allow early acquisitions of materials necessary for police investigations.

4) Promotion of coordinated public-private prevention activities

### a. Direct prevention activities by police

In order to prevent damage from Furikome frauds (extortion), police are actively engaged in such activities as surveillance by community police officers dropping by at locations where ATMs are installed and making active calls to users of ATMs.

Police also grasp and analyze circumstances under which Furikome frauds (extortion) have caused damage, and make locations of ATM installations used often for offenses and hours during which fraud damage was done into map information, which community police officers use in their rounds of surveillance visits.

Furthermore, hot lines have been set up between police stations and financial institutions located in their jurisdictions. When employees of financial institutions find people who seem to be suffering from Furikome fraud (extortion) damage, police, in cooperation with financial institutions, dissuade them from making fund transfers.

### b. Effective awareness activities

In order to prevent Furikome fraud (extortion) damage, it is important to secure people’s understanding and cooperation. For this reason, police are conducting awareness activities geared toward the general public by making effective use of anti-crime meetings and various other events.

Given that many of Furikome fraud (extortion) victims made money transfers shortly after getting calls from crime groups without consulting third parties, police are calling upon citizens to actively make reports to and consult with police when they get calls suspected of Furikome fraud (extortion) attempts, let alone consultations with family members and other people close to them.

In addition to “Dial 110,” police stay open to wide-ranging consultations from citizens by setting up a variety of “windows,” including dedicated telephone lines for consultations (with the common nationwide phone number “# 9110”) and telephone lines exclusively reserved for consultations about Furikome frauds.

In particular, considering the fact that many of victims of Ore ore frauds (extortion) and refund frauds are elderly people, police are striving to conduct awareness activities that resonate with them by individually and specifically explaining latest fraud tactics and precautions against fraud damage by making use of opportunities for police officers to meet