Resona Holdings Inc., the parent of Resona Bank and Saitama Resona Bank, has refunded 100 million yen to 130 victims of swindling.
Most of the cases involved people impersonating the victims' relatives or legal representatives to have money transferred into the swindlers' bank accounts.
The money for the refunds came from swindlers' accounts set up at Resona group banks, Resona officials said Thursday.
The recent rise in the number of swindles has angered the public. The schemes have become increasingly complex, and include such stories as pleas for quick transfers to pay compensation for bogus traffic accidents.
Banks whose accounts have been used by the con artists have difficulty distinguishing real victims of these frauds from another group of swindlers pretending to be victims.
Resona Holdings's decision to compensate fraud victims with money from the criminals' accounts may influence other banks facing demands from victims to have their stolen money replaced, industry insiders said.
Resona has been refunding money since February 2004, as long as certain conditions are met. It only returns money that can be traced from the illicit account directly back to the victim, the officials said.