Japanese police are boosting efforts to support for people who have applied for "dark" part-time jobs, known as yami baito, but wish to quit them.

Such illegal jobs have often been linked to a recent spate of robberies that have taken place in the Tokyo metropolitan area.

Applicants for dark part-time jobs send pictures of their identification documents to recruiters, then end up unable to quit for fear of possible retaliatory actions against themselves and their families.

Police took protective steps for 46 such applicants from Oct. 18 to Nov. 7, with more than half of them being young people, according to the National Police Agency.

Protective steps include introducing safe places to live, beefing up patrols and providing relocation subsidies. The police also have a system to secure the safety of such people immediately in case of emergency if they have registered in advance.

One man in his 40s saw a dark part-time job on the social media platform X which promised unusually high pay. He applied, sending his phone number and a photo of his driver's license to a recruiter.

Afterward he decided to sever contact in order to avoid committing a crime but later received a threatening message to his mobile phone.

Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department told the man to leave his house for safety. No retaliatory action against the man has been confirmed, according to the police.

A senior Tokyo police official said, "We want people to consult us right away if they apply (for dark part-time jobs), without being afraid of intimidation."