Who Are Phone Scam Criminals? - The Reality of Fraud Ring Members

How a Fraud Ring Is Organised

Organised fraud - the "it's me" impostor scam, fake tax refund scams and the like - is a crime committed by groups. It is not one person doing everything; the roles are divided up as finely as in a company. National Police Agency figures put the number of people arrested for organised fraud in 2024 at 2,274. Almost all of them held low-level roles, however: the upper ranks of these organisations are rarely caught.

• The director at the top: the figure who plans the fraud and issues instructions to members. Because they never make the calls or receive the money themselves, they are hard to arrest. Many communicate only through encrypted messaging apps and never meet the low-level members face to face
• The caller: the member who telephones the victim, working from a script to play the part of a son, a police officer, a bank employee and so on. They sometimes use caller ID spoofing techniques to make a police station or bank number appear on the display
• The collector: the member who receives cash or bank cards directly from the victim. Because they come face to face with the victim and appear on security cameras, they are the most likely of all to be arrested
• The ATM runner: the member who withdraws money from ATMs using the bank cards obtained by deception. As they are captured on ATM security cameras, their arrest risk is as high as the collector's
• The list broker: supplies lists of victims' phone numbers. These are brokers who trade in leaked personal data and sell target lists to fraud groups
• The equipment supplier: sources mobile phones and bank accounts registered in other people's names. Without these tools the fraud cannot function at all

In this way a fraud group operates with a division of labour much like a company. The people at the top stay somewhere safe and push all the dangerous work onto young people at the bottom. Of the 2,274 people arrested in 2024, 1,651 (72.6 percent) were cash collectors, ATM runners or lookouts, while just 50 (2.2 percent) were identified as core members of an organisation (National Police Agency figures). It is only ever the bottom rung that gets arrested, while investigators struggle to reach the core of the organisation. Reading about where the money from these scams disappears to brings that structure into even sharper focus.

The "High-Paying Job" Trap - Social Media Is the Entrance

Have you ever seen posts on X, Instagram or TikTok offering "50,000 yen a day", "easy work" or "just collect a package"? Most of these are recruitment ads placed by fraud groups looking for cash collectors and ATM runners. Searching hashtags along the lines of high-paying job, same-day payment or underground work will often surface suspicious posts.

Apply and you are steered onto an encrypted messaging app such as Telegram or Signal, then made to take part in crime by following instructions. At first you are told it is "just receiving a package and forwarding it on" - but what is inside that package is money or bank cards taken from victims by deception.

The recruitment tactics are sophisticated. The work is first presented as legitimate, with explanations that appear to have nothing to do with crime: "delivering documents to elderly people's homes", "collecting cash on behalf of a bank". Yet once a person has taken part even a single time, the group holds a copy of their identity document and threatens to expose them if they try to quit, leaving them unable to get out on their own.

Who Gets Recruited?

The young people recruited as cash collectors and ATM runners tend to be in the following situations.

• They are short of money: tuition payments, debt repayments, not enough to live on - some financial problem is weighing on them
• They look for work on social media: rather than using legitimate job sites, they search social media for same-day-payment work
• They do not grasp how serious the crime is: told it is "just collecting a package", they have little sense that they are taking part in bank transfer fraud
• They are in relationships that are hard to refuse: introduced by an older acquaintance or a friend, they are put in a position where saying no is difficult

Among the 2,191 people arrested in 2024 as cash collectors and in similar roles, the route in was most often a reply to a social media post, at 949 people or 43.3 percent, followed by an introduction from an acquaintance, at 680 people or 31.0 percent (National Police Agency figures). Social media is the single biggest entrance. Recruited with talk of an easy way to earn, they are used and discarded without ever fully understanding the crime they are part of. The psychological mechanisms behind why people fall for scams apply not only to victims but to the perpetrators' side as well.

What Happens if You Are Arrested

"I was only following instructions" and "I did not know it was fraud" do not work. The reality of being arrested as a cash collector or ATM runner is harsher than most people imagine.

• The charge: fraud, under Article 246 of the Penal Code. The statutory penalty is imprisonment for up to 10 years. There is no fine option - only imprisonment
• Prison even for a first offence: organised fraud is punished severely, and a first-time offender can receive an actual prison term with no suspended sentence. The larger the amount stolen, the longer the term handed down
• Minors are arrested too: those under 20 are equally subject to arrest and referral to family court, and 18- and 19-year-olds are covered as "specified juveniles". In serious cases they can be sent to a juvenile training school. In 2024, 416 juveniles were arrested for organised fraud (National Police Agency figures). "I am a minor so I will be fine" is completely mistaken
• Compensating victims: you bear liability for the victims' losses. This can reach several million to several tens of millions of yen - sums a young person could not possibly pay
• A criminal record: it affects employment, further education and overseas travel for life. Even if you leave it off your resume, a background check may reveal it

The organisation will never, under any circumstances, help an arrested collector. It will not cover legal fees, it cuts off contact and it destroys evidence. The collector is a disposable pawn, and the moment they are arrested their relationship with the group ends completely. Contacting a fraud consultation hotline early is the key to stopping the damage from spreading.

Why "I Did Not Know" Is No Defence

In court the standard applied is whether an ordinary person would have realised it was fraud. Given how many unnatural elements are present - unusually high pay, receiving money from strangers, instructions over an encrypted app, being asked to hand over a copy of your identity document - the excuse that you did not know is not accepted.

The act of receiving cash at a victim's home is itself powerful evidence from which knowledge of the fraud can be inferred. Claim that you thought it was a delivery and the judge will ask why you believed that collecting a large sum of cash at the home of an elderly stranger was a legal job.

Offers You Must Never Accept

• "Just receive a package and forward it on, and we will pay you X yen"
• "Lend us your bank account and we will pay you X yen"
• "Easy work - all you do is make phone calls"
• "We will give you the details on Telegram"
• "We need you to leave a copy of your identity document with us"
• "We will explain the specifics on the day"

Every one of these is recruitment into crime. If you see them, ignore them. If a friend is being recruited, stop them. If anything feels off at all, consult the police consultation line (#9110). Getting advice at the recruitment stage means you can avoid being drawn into crime altogether.

Summary

Most of the people behind scam calls are young people who answered a "high-paying job" ad on social media. Behind every story about easy money lies a crime. If you are arrested, you face prison, compensation payments and a criminal record - a life thrown badly off course. The people at the top of the organisation sit somewhere safe, push the dangerous work down to the bottom, and cut those people loose the moment they are caught. To avoid being used by an outfit like that, never take the bait.