THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
March 1, 2021 at 17:05 JST
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (TMPD) is advising the public to be on the alert against suspicious phone calls from scam artists taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Police reported one caller as saying, “There are subsidies for anti-coronavirus measures available.”
Another caller said, “We can send a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test kit to you.” Another scam call offered the elderly, “There is financial assistance available for people aged 65 or older.”
In 2020, the TMPD confirmed a total of 153 such cases. Of these, in two instances, elderly people were bilked out of a total of 28.2 million yen ($264,600).
This year, the TMPD also confirmed scam calls on making vaccination reservations.
In the calls, scammers, pretending to be officials of the Tokyo or central governments, said, “I will make a reservation for a vaccination for you.”
They ask elderly people to send money as security deposits or booking fees, according to the police.
The TMPD confirmed 13 such cases through Feb. 2 this year.
“There is expected to be more scam calls using the pandemic as a pretext,” a TMPD official said. “If you think something is strange, please call the police immediately.”
Go to jail? Tokyo eateries accused of trying to scam subsidy program
December 1, 2020
Jammers used at ATMs to hang up on perpetrators of ‘refund scams’
November 30, 2020
Aichi police enlist foreign clerks to combat fraud targeting elderly
May 13, 2020
Virus-related deaths outside hospitals rise to 75 in January
January 26, 2021
Postmortems by police turn up 11 cases of infection with COVID-19
April 22, 2020
COVID-19 reports sparking boorish behavior in communities
April 30, 2020
Stories about memories of cherry blossoms solicited from readers
Cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.
A series based on diplomatic documents declassified by Japan’s Foreign Ministry
A series on the death of a Japanese woman that sparked a debate about criminal justice policy in the United States
A series about Japanese-Americans and their memories of World War II
Here is a collection of first-hand accounts by “hibakusha” atomic bomb survivors.
A leaflet calling for caution against scam artists using the pretext of making reservations for vaccinations against COVID-19 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
