FUKUOKA—Fukuoka prefectural police have obtained an arrest warrant for a woman in her 40s who lives in Vietnam on suspicion of theft in a series of shoplifting incidents targeting Uniqlo stores around Japan, sources said. 

Police believe the fortysomething Vietnamese national was directing a group of Vietnamese thieves from overseas. 

Uniqlo products are very popular in Vietnam, and the woman had sent Vietnamese nationals to Japan, directing them to, “Go shoplift in Japan,” according to the sources.

Four Vietnamese men and women in their 30s and 40s, who have been indicted on a charge of theft, came to Japan between Sept. 21 and 23 last year as employees of a company owned by the woman.

Each of the four had never met, but they had a relationship with the woman, including borrowing money from her.

The four suspects are thought to have used "minpaku" (Japan's AirBnB) while staying in Japan, moving from a city to city to steal at various Uniqlo store locations.

According to the sources, since 2018, the group shoplifted a total of 66 times in Fukuoka Prefecture, the Tokyo metropolitan area and the Kansai region, mainly targeting Uniqlo stores.

They stole a total of 5,237 items, including sweaters and down jackets, valued at 19.7 million yen ($132,740).

The woman who instructed the group remained in Vietnam, giving them detailed instructions on social media about the size and color of the clothes to be targeted, and the group of four who were sent to Japan shoplifted so much that they filled their suitcases every day.

There are Uniqlo stores in Vietnam so why did they repeatedly shoplift in Japan?

“There is a lot of talk on the internet about how shoplifting is easier in Japan than in Vietnam,” said a Vietnamese woman, 25, who lives in Japan and works in a trade-related job.

She said it is strange for her to see the relaxed environment at Uniqlo stores in Japan, where some cash registers are unstaffed and customers can select items out of sight from store staff.

“It is unthinkable in Vietnam, where shoplifting measures are strictly enforced,” she said. “Some say it’s great on the technology front, while others would abuse it.”

According to Uniqlo’s website and other information, the company has 22 stores in Vietnam after opening its first outlet in Ho Chi Minh City in 2019.

According to the woman, fast fashion, including Uniqlo, has become popular in Vietnam.

“Uniqlo products have become very trendy in the past few years as the economy has developed,” she said.

Vietnam, where the sunlight is strong, is experiencing a “whitening” boom, she said, and Uniqlo’s UV-cut parkas are popular among her friends.

The women is from northern Vietnam where the winters are cold, and she said, “Uniqlo’s down and Heattech are popular because they are warmer and last longer, even if they are a little more expensive than clothing available locally.”

The thieves, who were caught by Fukuoka police, were stealing sweaters and other items, and the woman said that they “are in demand in cold regions.”

Uniqlo clothes are made in Vietnam and other countries. Nevertheless, the woman said that in Vietnam, there is a longing for products sold in Japan, and that “if a product has a Japanese product control tag, people may think the quality is good.”

According to the Tokyo-based national organization for the prevention of shoplifting crime, whose members include about 100 companies such as Fast Retailing Co., which operates Uniqlo, many member companies are suffering from shoplifting.

According to the organization, when looking at shoplifting by foreigners visiting Japan from 2016 to 2022 by the suspect’s nationality, Vietnamese topped the number of arrestees and the number of cases.

In 2021, police investigated 2,081 shoplifting cases involving Vietnamese and arrested 649 Vietnamese. In 2022, 488 Vietnamese were arrested for shoplifting in 1,927 cases. 

According to Akira Mitsuzane, director-general of the organization, Vietnamese shoplifters mainly target clothing stores and drugstores, and since the number of thefts is about four times the number of arrests, they “appear to be repeatedly committing thefts,” he said.

Yoshinori Inamoto, chairman of the Japan Association of Electronic Article Surveillance Machines, said that “the technology of countermeasures is improving,” as an increasing number of devices are being installed to counter the methods of evading security systems.

However, he pointed out, “Compared to other countries, not many companies in Japan have introduced such a system yet.”

Inamoto emphasized the need for a combination of measures, such as using a combination of security devices and installing security cameras that have a facial recognition system.

(This article was written by Yuka Suzuki and Miku Ito.)