The number of cases reported for fraud had leveled off or decreased until2001,but has increased significantly since2002,reaching the record high since1960at83,015(up by22,717(37.7%)from the previous year)in2004.The clearance rate has decreased sharply,recording the post WWII worst at32.1%(down by18.3points(id.))in2004.
  Recently, billing fraud cases are increasing rapidly,which is one of the major factors that raised the number of cases reported for fraud.
Billing fraud/extortion collectively refers to the following three types; "It's me"fraud/extortion(a fraud or extortion case in which a perpetrator calls up a victim pretending to be a family member of the victim saying"It's me,"a lawyer,or a policeman,and asks for money for compensation to be placed immediately in a designated bank account to settle a fictitious trouble such as traffic accident), fictitious claim fraud/extortion(a fraud or extortion case in which a perpetrator makes a victim believe he/she has debt and pay a fictitious charge into a designated bank account by mail or the Internet),and loan deposit fraud(a fraud case in which a perpetrator pretends to lend money to a victim and makes him/her pay a deposit into a designated bank account).In2004,the number of cases reported for these kinds of fraud or extortion was25,667,among which20,194cases caused total damage of over28.3billion yen.
  Bank accounts used for these offenses are often those illegally opened under other persons'names or fictitious names.Buying savings books has come to be punished after the implementation of the Law for Partial Amendment to the Law on Customer Identification by Financial Institutions(Law No.164of2004)on December30,2004.For the problem that contractors of cellular phones used for billing fraud/extortion are often unable to be identified, the Law for Preventing Illegal Use of Cellular Phones and Contractor Identification by Cellular Phone Providers(Law No.31of2005)was promulgated.The provision to punish business activities to lease cellular phones for value without checking users'names and addresses was put into effect in May2005.
  The number of reported cases,the total amount of damage,the number of cleared cases,and the number of persons cleared by type of billing fraud/extortion in2004were as follows(Source:The Criminal Investigation Bureau,National Police Agency).
(1)Cases reported for"It's me"fraud increased by2.2times from the previous year to14,459(including5,296attempted cases).The total amount of damage was18,474,467,084yen(up by14,156,198,442yen(327.8%)from the previous year).By type of fictitious trouble,compensations for fictitious traffic accidents were the most common with8,832(61.1%),followed by payments of fictitious debts to money lenders with3,430(23.7%),and those to undergo an abortion with693(4.8%).The number of cleared cases was911,up by732(408.9%(id.)),and the number of persons cleared,270up by212(365.5%(id.)).
The number of cases reported for"It's me"extortion was415(including63attempted cases),with a total amount of damage of654,262,020yen.The number of cleared cases was43,and the number of persons cleared was35.All increased in number compared to the previous year.
(2)The number of cases reported for fictitious claim fraud/extortion was5,101(including90attempted cases),with a total amount of damage of5,405,330,934yen.By modus operandi,claims for fictitious fees of Websites were the most common with2,646(51.9%),followed by payments of fictitious debts to money lenders or debt collections with1,966(38.5%).The number of cleared cases was294and the number of persons cleared was207.
(3)The number of cases reported for loan deposit fraud was5,692(including24attempted cases),with the total amount of damage of3,844,597,936.The number of cleared cases was57,and the number of persons cleared was36.