### b. Methods to recruit members

Withdrawers of wangled money who are responsible for withdrawing funds defrauded out of victims via ATM and carrying them to scheme leaders have the highest risk of being arrested by police, criminal groups often recruit those who withdraw defrauded money via the Internet or using newspaper ads so that even when they are arrested, investigators cannot reach other members of groups because they do not directly know the identities of others. There are cases where even ringleaders do not know the whole picture of their criminal groups because one of the members recruits other members by word of mouth.

### c. Tricks to escape police investigations

In order to escape police investigations, criminal groups change bases of crimes quite often, and in some cases, they use vehicles as bases of crimes and repeat offenses while constantly moving around. Criminal groups stay alert to police investigations by, for example, setting up surveillance cameras near bases of crimes and paying close attention to vehicles parked around bases of crimes. When police raid their bases of crimes, they often try to obstruct investigations by destroying evidence, such as destruction of cell phones used in crimes.

Thus, criminal groups, which lurk in the anonymous society, escape police investigations, repeat the process of gathering and parting and use nasty and sophisticated means to carry out Furikome frauds (extortion), have become a new form of crime organizations that threaten everyday life of citizens.

## 4 ) Awareness of citizens

According to the results of a survey on Furikome fraud (extortion) victims and citizens at large $ ^{1} $ , victims tended to have insufficient knowledge about Furikome fraud (extortion) tricks compared with citizens at large before they were defrauded. Also, about 30% of victims transferred money to designated accounts even when they were suspicious of Furikome frauds (extortion).

Furthermore, compared with citizens in general, fewer victims, before they were defrauded, discussed about Furikome frauds (extortion) or decided on any measures against them with family members, took steps to lower the limit on inter-account fund transfers or were aware of the mechanism to do so.

Note 1: In order to figure out differences of awareness about Furikome frauds (extortion) between Furikome fraud (extortion) victims and citizens at large, the National Police Agency conducted a survey January 13-26, 2009, on 362 victims who reported damage from Furikome frauds (extortion) (of whom 39.0% were males and 60.5% were females, with 0.6% of no responses; by age group, 20s or younger 8.6%, 30s 13.3%, 40s 12.7%, 50s 14.9%, 60s 20.2%, 70s 21.0%, and 80s or older 9.1%, with 0.3% of no responses) and 1,000 citizens in general who visited prefectural driver’s license centers to renew their driver’s licenses (of whom 60.5% were males and 39.1% were females, with 0.4% of no responses; by age group, 20s or younger 13.4%, 30s 24.6%, 40s 18.0%, 50s 17.6%, 60s 18.3%, 70s 5.4%, and 80s or older 2.3%, with 0.4% of no responses).

Based on the survey results, it is deemed effective for the prevention of Furikome fraud (extortion) damage to take such steps as getting fraud tactics more widely known, encouraging families to set passwords known to them only, and promoting the lowering the upper ceilings on money transfers between deposit accounts. In addition, given that victims who initially suspected Furikome fraud (extortion) when they got calls from perpetrators were after all deceived by their sophisticated tricks, it is also considered important to spread the word that one should consult with family members or other people close to him/her instead of worrying by himself/herself when he/she gets a suspicious call.

## (2) Current State of Fraudulent Commercial Practices

Fraudulent commercial practices are systemically and repetitively conducted commercial transactions targeting general consumers that incorporate illegal or unfair means/methods.

Fraudulent commercial practices constantly keep changing their forms in response to changing socioeconomic circumstances and their tactics are diverse. Malicious businesses target elderly people who are not familiar with commercial transactions to carry out fraudulent commercial transactions repeatedly, causing a great amount of damage.

## 1 ) Status of clearances of offenses involving specified commercial transactions

The number of clearances $ ^{1} $ of offenses involving specified commercial transactions $ ^{2} $ peaked out in 2006 following tighter crackdown in 2004-2005 on the so-called “inspection business” after it became a major social issue. Cases of fraudulent “inspection business” and “hypnotic sales” targeting the elderly still continue to occur frequently and stay at the high level.

Note 1: Data that count similar further crimes by the same suspect