News

ATM con men net $22.4 million in Japan

January 8, 2008

The (Japan) Yomiuri Shimbun: People posing as tax-office officials and calling victims to offer refunds managed to net a total of 2.45 billion yen (U.S. $22.4 million) between January and November 2006 in 2,158 fraudulent cash transfers using ATMs.The total amount swindled shot up sevenfold from the corresponding period the previous year, and the number of cases rose by about 650 percent. The majority of victims were at least 60 years old. Investigators believe the fraudsters targeted older users because of their perceived unfamiliarity with ATMs. The scam involves a criminal posing as an official from a public institution, such as a tax or social insurance office, calling and instructing a victim to take an ATM card and mobile phone to an ATM to receive a refund for overpayment of tax or pension premiums. The criminal then calls the mobile phone and gives the victim a false "identity" or "refund" code, duping the victim into keying in an amount and account number to transfer funds to the swindlers' accounts.