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March 03, 2025
 

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FRAUD

Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar are stuck in limbo at a compound in Myawaddy on Feb. 26.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Mar 1, 2025
Some foreigners pulled out of Myanmar scam centers face struggle to get home
Hundreds of foreign nationals have little food, scant health care and filthy toilets in the remote camp they have been taken to, two detainees said.
The computers and smartphones seized by the Metropolitan Police Department on Thursday in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 28, 2025
Three teens arrested over fraudulent subscriptions to Rakuten Mobile
Police believe the suspects obtained at least about 2,500 subscriptions and sold them for a total of about ¥7.5 million in crypto assets.
Victims of scam centers who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar, are stuck in limbo at a compound in Myawaddy, Myanmar, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal / EXPLAINER
Feb 28, 2025
Southeast Asia's latest scam center crackdown
Here's a look at why the crackdown is happening now and the broader implications for relations between China, Thailand and Myanmar.
Multinational victims of scam centers, who were trafficked into working in Myanmar and were sent to Thailand, queue for food at a shelter as they wait for their embassies to pick them up, in Tak province, Thailand, on Feb. 19.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 27, 2025
'Contemplated suicide': Ethiopians recount horror of Southeast Asia scam centers
The complexes have flourished across the region, often staffed by foreigners who are made to swindle people in what analysts say is a multibillion-dollar industry.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 26, 2025
Japanese authorities raise alarm over rise in fake police phone scams
Tokyo police rearrested a man suspected of being involved in multiple scams and released a voice recording in hopes of raising awareness.
The border crossing near the Thai town of Aranyaprathet and the Cambodian town of Poipet
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 23, 2025
Thai and Cambodian police free 215 foreigners in scam center raid
Hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked by criminal gangs and forced to work in scam centers and illegal online operations across Southeast Asia.
Multinational victims of scam centers, who were allegedly trafficked into working in Myanmar and were sent to Thailand on Feb. 12 amid a mounting crackdown on scam centers operating along a porous border, queue to get food at a shelter in Tak province, Thailand, on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 21, 2025
Japanese nationals returned from Myanmar as scam probe continues
The Japanese nationals are among hundreds of thousands of people who police say have been coerced into engaging in online scams.
Alleged scam center workers and victims from China, who were handed over from Myanmar, board a plane at Mae Sot Airport in Mae Sot in Thailand's Tak province on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 21, 2025
China flies home first nationals from Myanmar ‘scam centers’
The repatriation is part of a multinational effort to stamp out the centers, a transnational criminal industry that has found havens in Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia.
Tokyo police have arrested the president of a computer retailer in the capital for allegedly having Chinese students studying in Japan buy MacBooks using a student discount at Apple Stores for the purpose of reselling them overseas.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 20, 2025
Police arrest computer retailer head over MacBook student discount scheme
Zhao Zhicheng, 35, allegedly had students from China studying in Japan buy the Apple computers at a discount for the purpose of reselling abroad.
The eastern Myanmar state of Kayin seen from Mae Sot in northwestern Thailand in May
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 19, 2025
Japanese boy says he was forced to work at scam center in Myanmar
The boy said that he was given electric shocks when he refused to take part in the fraud.
The Thai Royal Police held a meeting on Monday in Bangkok with representatives from 18 countries, including Japan, as well as international organizations like the United Nations regarding the transnational scam operation.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 18, 2025
Japanese nationals thought to be held captive at Myanmar-Thailand border
Foreign nationals from several countries have been held at the border and forced to participate in a variety of scams.
A general view of Myanmar from Thailand's side of the border, in Mae Sot district, on Feb. 5.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 15, 2025
Teen says several more Japanese nationals involved in frauds in Myanmar
Thai authorities took the 16-year-old teenager into custody in Mae Sot, in northwestern Thailand, this month, and are looking into the details of the situation.
Artificial intelligence is fast becoming 'a new tool in the toolkit of scammers' preying on individuals looking for love online.
LIFE / Lifestyle
Feb 14, 2025
Got a digital crush this Valentine's? Beware of scams, says Meta.
At a Feb. 12 briefing, Meta outlined a recently disrupted romance scam that originated in Cambodia and targeted people in Chinese and Japanese languages.
Police believe there is a bigger party involved in making and selling counterfeit products behind the latest arrest of three suspects.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 13, 2025
Osaka police arrest three for online sales of counterfeit eyelash serum
As the products were shipped from China, police believe there is a bigger party involved in making and selling counterfeit products.
A new scam causing concern in Japan starts out simple, but when victims request to continue, they are instructed to set up an account on a certain app or website where they are to enter their personal information.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 12, 2025
Japan's consumer watchdog raises alarm over new social media scam
The deceptively innocent scheme requires users to do one simple thing to earn some extra cash: take screenshots of videos.
Ippei Mizuhara, former interpreter for Shohei Ohtani, leaves the courthouse in Santa Ana, California, on Thursday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 7, 2025
Ohtani's ex-interpreter Mizuhara sentenced to nearly five years in prison
The case involved the illegal transfer of nearly $17 million from the star's account to pay off gambling debts.
Investigators pursue a criminal case in the town of Oshima in Tokyo in January.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 6, 2025
Concern over crime grows in Japan as cases rise for third straight year
The most drastic increase was seen in the number of fraud cases, which numbered 57,324 — up 24.6% from the previous year and with a total of ¥307.5 billion in damages recorded.
According to the Metropolitan Police Department, the former employee has admitted to the allegation, telling investigators that he used the name brand of Nomura Securities to commit the fraud.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 6, 2025
Former Nomura employee arrested for suspected fraud
The former employee of Nomura Securities is suspected of defrauding a client of ¥10 million with a fake investment offer.
Kinuko Iwamoto (center), former chancellor of Tokyo Women's Medical University, inside a police car in Tokyo on Jan. 13
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 3, 2025
Ex-Tokyo medical school chancellor served new warrant over payments
Iwamoto, 78, is suspected of committing a breach of trust, allegedly making the university fraudulently pay a total of around ¥170 million in consulting fees on multiple occasions.
Phishing and its social-engineering cousin "pretexting" together accounted for more than 20% of almost 10,000 data breaches worldwide last year.
WORLD / Society
Jan 30, 2025
Age of deepfakes means internet users must be more alert than ever
AI chatbots powered by large language models save attackers time and allow for more elaborate fake messages.
Aboard Japan’s most luxurious train, the journey is the destination
The luxury Seven Stars in Kyushu train trades the hyper-efficiency of typical rail travel in Japan for a slower, more decadent version.
Europe's nightmare is here: They have to fight Putin without the U.S.
Ukrainian servicemen play with dogs at their position on a front line in the nation's Zaporizhzhia region on Feb. 21.
Japan struggles to fend off a world without enough matcha
Once a boon to tea farmers' bottom lines, the global matcha craze is now pushing producers and distributors to their limits with few options to adequately meet demand.
Japan battles biggest wildfire in decades
Smoke rises from a forest fire in Ofunato, Iwate Prefecture, on Feb. 28
Prince Hisahito's coming-of-age ceremony set for Sept. 6
Prince Hisahito in the city of Maizuru, Kyoto Prefecture, on Feb. 12
Redevelopment and resistance in historic Nishiogikubo
Tsuyoshi Mizukoshi, owner of a pub in Nishiogi’s commercial area, is a community organizer who is rallying local residents against the road development plan.
Aboard Japan’s most luxurious train, the journey is the destination
The luxury Seven Stars in Kyushu train trades the hyper-efficiency of typical rail travel in Japan for a slower, more decadent version.
Taiwan comics on the rise: Local storytellers, global aspirations
Taiwanese comic artist Rishiazao and interpreter Yun-wen Huang greet an attendee at the 2025 Angouleme International Comics Festival in France.
Not even Japan is safe from counterfeit luxury goods
While Japan's luxury goods market remains strong, its seconhand resale market is proving just as much a draw for tourists searching for great bargains — as long as they can manage to get their hands on the real deal.
Nils Nielsen's vision for Nadeshiko Japan comes to life at SheBelieves Cup
Nadeshiko Japan celebrates after winning the SheBelieves Cup in San Diego on Wednesday.

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