Uh huh.

So Japan is a relatively safe country but to be fair it's not free from its own deceptive scams.

So I wanted to make this video and share some of the more popular ones especially for those of you living in Japan just in case you ever come across it yourself so you can avoid it before it's too late.

Also I'm not too familiar with scams from other countries.

Do let me know which ones in Japan are similar and different from your country.

But like always before I start, if you wanna help support the channel then definitely check out the Shibley emerge and if you guys want to see what I'm doing on a daily check out my instagram account.

And if you have any questions about Japan or Japan travels, check out my discord community.

Let's start with one of the most popular scams in Japan number one or a or a scam A.

K.

A.

It's me scam and this one scammers usually call by phone and targeting older victim and pretend to be a relative usually their son, daughter or grandchild to ask for money creating an emergency situation where money is needed right away.

This scam works especially well in Japan one because elderly are generally trusting to Japan is still very much a cash based society.

So it's hard to trace three families don't talk much, especially as you get older.

So it's hard for the victim to recognize if it's in fact their family member trying to contact them before family members usually don't ask for money.

So getting a call such as this means it's really important and urgent.

For example, this last month alone, a man in his eighties from New mozzie Shizuoka gave over $15,000 to a scammer claiming to be a son.

The scammer told the victim that he made a mistake on important company documents and needed money that day to fix the situation.

The victim agreed to meet the Sun's boss at the New Maza City office where he gave the scammer more than $15,000.

These scams do vary, but work related excuses are often used in saving face and protecting one's company is an important part of japanese culture.

Damn.

That's one reason to stay close to your family.

Number two, the loan deposit scam for this one.

A scammer send a letter to would be victims offering an attractive financial loan and then get the applicants to transfer money to the scammers account by telling the victim that they need to send a deposit in order to start alone.

The scammers will entice applicants by advertising things like incredibly low campaign interest rates match with high loan amounts or it's operated by known government officials and also advertise simple screening and no guarantees needed.

For example, one victim of the scam received a highly attractive loan offer via facts and decided to apply.

He soon received a call from a loan officer and was told he qualified for up to about $50,000 but needed to send a 10% deposit first.

So he borrowed money from his friends and then sent over the $5000 deposit.

Soon afterwards, he was requested to send another $5000 to earn trust.

The man didn't have the additional funds so he asked for a refund of his initial deposit but never got the money back.

Damn, all I could think about is that he's still using a facts.

Let's try to find a scam that's a little bit more digital.

Number three, the social media cash giveaway scam over recent years, Japan has seen an increase in social media scam specifically post pretending to be cash giveaway offers and scamming victims out of electronic money.

In 2019, a famous Japanese entrepreneur and ex ceo of zozo popular japanese online shopping site offered on twitter about $10,000 each to 100 people.

Since then similar but fake cash giveaway post have increased in Japan designed to steal people's personal info, bank accounts, credit cards, et cetera.

For example, a woman in her thirties from Ishikawa Prefecture was taken for about $50 last year via fake twitter account giveaway pretending to be another famous Japanese entrepreneur.

So be careful of your personal data.

Even in Japan number four, the romance scam.

This scam is also found online, but as the title suggests, plays on the heartstrings of the lonely and compassionate on a rise in Japan victims will be approached on social media by a scammer fading to have a romantic interest in order to trick them out of money.

For example, a group of four men were alleged to have approached a number of women online in the Fukuoka Prefecture.

They were pretending to be foreign military men and needing money.

The men message the women asking for financial support for things like plane tickets to meet them or money to leave the military.

One woman in the sixties was taken for about $60,000 on this camp.

I guess finding love online also hurts in Japan.

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The tax refund scam in this one won the scammers call and gain the trust of the victim by pretending to be a government official from the city ward office, tax office or social insurance agency using the victim's inhabitant tax, state tax, pension premium or medical fees.

As the refund bait specifically the scammers will say something like I'm Suzuki from the Shibuya city ward office and you have a $300 refund for medical fees from 2020.

We sent you a letter for guidance but it expired so I contacted you directly and we can assist you over the phone if you do it today, after which the victim is usually instructed to go to the A.

T.

M.

And call the scammers back.

Once a scammer receives a call, it's go time they proceed to guide the victim in transferring funds.

That scammers account.

This one is popular in Japan because it's not unheard of for government officials to contact residents and notify them if they forgot to submit a document or maybe missed a payment.

So yeah, I can see how this one could happen.

But once someone asked you to go to the A.

T.

M.

Or go to your online banking account, that's when the alarm bells should start going off.

Number six, the covid scam.

In light of the recent worldwide pandemic, a new crop of scams have service in Japan and this is one of them.

Since many people in Japan were forced to quarantine shut down businesses etcetera, the Japanese government offered a business cash handout to companies and sole proprietors, about $20,000 for companies and about $10,000 for sole proprietors.

And the scammers saw free money for the taking.

Obviously each business owner was eligible for only one business cash handout, but the scammers found a way around by convincing and instructing college students on how to fraud the government by applying to the program as a business owner, although both equally guilty for the crime.

The college students would take about 70 to 80% of the cut and the original scammer would take the rest.

Unfortunately for them, many of the students were caught, so be careful of someone trying to involve you in a scam.

Well, that's gonna be a fun conversation to have the parents number seven bar scams.

So this final one is for the tourists and visitors of Japan probably common in other parts of the world, but still worth mentioning here just in case, relatively speaking, there's not a lot of outright devious scams geared towards travelers, but this one will catch even some of the season travelers, especially if they come to Japan with their guard down.

The basic juices, scammers will take unsuspecting travellers to a bar and when the traveler tries to leave they'll be charged with an expensive bill.

So this scam comes in many forms from the Bladen to the unsuspecting for example, you'll have the foreigner standing at the corner of the street in a popular drinking district like the punggye or shinjuku approaching traveler's urging them to come to the bar with a special discount till later, find out that there were hidden fees and charges Other times it could be a little bit more subtle, like a cute girl on the street where travelers approach them, travelers will start a conversation and she'll end up bringing them to a bar for drinks in which you probably already have a special deal with the bar and worse, there's a special overpriced menu for the traveler.

Finally, it could be a person you newly met on a dating app like Tinder or maybe a language learning app who takes you to an expensive bar.

Either way, you may be led to paying a huge bill, so there you go, some of the most popular scams in Japan again, let me know how compared to your country and if you like this video helped me out and hit that like button.

Also, if you guys want to see more videos like this or anything related to Japan, hit that subscribe button and the bell button, and I'll catch you guys in the next one.