Immigration Scam on the Loose in Japan

And it’s targeting Japan’s foreign resident population

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I received a strange phone call this morning. It came from a +800 number. Strange because we don’t have +800 numbers in Japan.

It was a recording in Japanese that claimed to be the Immigration Office. It told me that I had neglected to turn in some important paperwork.

I knew something was strange from the beginning. But I still felt a slight panic hearing that I hadn’t turned something important into immigration. (I always do my best to be on good terms with immigration.)

But then the recording began speaking Chinese. And the feelings of panic disappeared. I ended the call and dialed my local immigration office.

They confirmed that the phone call I had just received was, indeed, a scam.

Japan is entering a scam crisis.

And it has advanced far beyond the ore-ore sagi Japan is famous for.

(Ore-ore-sagi is where a scammer calls an older person and claims to be their son, asking for financial help. The goal of the scammer is to get the person to go to the bank ATM and transfer money to the scammer’s bank account.)