Taiwanese should be on the alert for scams offering easy pay in Japan, as a number of Taiwanese have been arrested there for being “money mules” for fraud rings, Taiwan-Japan Relations Association Secretary-General Fan Chen-kuo (范振國) told a Ministry of Foreign Affairs briefing in Taipei yesterday.
Taiwan’s offices in Japan last year regularly received reports from Japanese police of Taiwanese being arrested over allegations they were working for fraud rings, Fan said, without providing specific numbers of arrests.
Taiwan’s main representative office in Tokyo and its five branch offices last year received at least one call per month for help from Taiwanese who had been arrested, a much higher frequency than in 2023, he said.
Photo: Huang Chin-hsuan, Taipei Times
Many of those arrested were young backpackers who traveled to Japan visa-free after being lured there by social media posts promising easy money, he said.
Most served as money mules for fraud rings, responsible for collecting money or expensive items from those being scammed and being arrested on the spot, Fan said.
Meanwhile, people planning to travel to Japan over the Lunar New Year period should purchase medical travel insurance in case of a medical emergency, Fan said.
Taiwan’s representative offices have received reports of several Taiwanese who became ill while visiting Japan and faced astronomical medical fees because they did not purchase medical insurance beforehand, he said.
Many medical emergencies occur in winter, when many Taiwanese travel to Japan to visit hot springs, he added.
Without insurance, the cost for emergency medical treatment and hospitalization could range from millions to more than ￥10 million (US$63,392), he added.
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