Tokyo: Osaka’s Japanese city will prevent elderly people from using ATMs, while on a phone call under a new rule to deal with the growing crisis of targeted scams.
Disadvantages from nationwide, organized fraud schemes, orchestrated by criminal gangs, including Yakuza, reached a record of 72.2 billion yen ($ 500 million) last year.
Older people are often the major goals for cold calls, in which scammers present them as relatives, police or lawyers, to recover them to cash or move them.
Therefore, authorities in Osaka have brought in an ordinance that is effective since August, which prevents people from the age of 65 from keeping phone calls while using ATMs.
Law, allegedly for Japan, to inform their guardians of restrictions to ATM operators, for example by applying posters or distributing flyers.
However, there will be no punishment for elderly people or institutions that fail to comply.
“As elderly people are victims of scammers, and operators including banks are our colleagues trying to stop scams, it is not appropriate to punish them”, regional official Ryo Hamoka explained to AFP on Friday.
Osaka in western Japan has the second largest number of overalls organized fraud cases after Tokyo near Tokyo, saying the police say.
The revised law also urges businesses to work towards using AI technology to help their ATMs detect users speaking on mobile phones.
The forms of organized fraud include the classic “It’s Me” scam, where criminals put family members in trouble to withdraw money from the victim.
Elderly people can also be used to use ATMs to obtain the non-existence of their insurance premium or pension to obtain “refunds”, the police have warned.
