Yasuhiro Tsuyuki, Chief of the National Police Agency, holds a news conference on March 16 in Tokyo. The National Police Agency and the labor ministry will ask employers to take measures to prevent fraud groups from using job-search websites to recruit people for yami baito dark part-time jobs. 38 fraud suspects arrested in seven prefectures from January 2022 to January 2023 were recruited through job-search sites, according to the NPA.
The NPA said that their gangs included collecting cash directly from fraud victims and withdrawing cash from ATMs using stolen bank cards.
The police arrests were made in Tokyo and Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Aichi and Fukuoka prefectures.
According to the investigative sources, fraud groups have abused job-search websites operated by companies such as Indeed and En Japan Inc. as well as community-based information sites run by Jimoty Inc. and others.
Usually, fraud groups post part-time jobs under the guise of looking for delivery service staff and other ordinary work descriptions.
Many ads entice the offers with such descriptions as driver's license not needed. When applicants call a phone number, they are told to communicate with high anonymity via message apps.
The sources said that such recruiting by fraud organizations started to increase around August of last year.
The operators of the job-search sites look at companies that want to post available jobs. Sources said that fraud organizations often use fake names and addresses, a violation of the Employment Security Law.
The ministry and the police will urge operators of job-search sites to strengthen measures to remove such illegal and harmful job advertisements.
A representative of Indeed Japan said that they are working to review our checking standards and improve our system every day to eliminate recruitment ads related to fraud.