"Ore, Ore" Fraud Increasing

This year, the number of so-called "Ore, Ore" ("It's me") frauds has been increasing. The fraudsters' trick goes like this. The criminal calls somebody's house and when the mother or grandparents pick up the phone, he pretends to be a son of the family, saying "It's me" in a fearful voice. The person who took the call would say, "Are you xx?," mentioning their son's or grandchild's name and he would then reply "That's right."

If the victim suspects a difference in the voice, the criminal will say he has the flu. Then he will make up a story, such as he had a traffic accident or was involved in some other incident, ask the victim to transfer money immediately and say he will be in danger if the payment is not made. In many cases, the victim pays the money in fear that their son or grandchild might be injured, with the amount ranging from hundreds of thousands of yen to several million yen.

Often, people who hear about these cases of fraud think the victim must surely be able to distinguishable the voice of their son or grandson. However, this is often not the case as the voice range in a phone call is very narrow and is not very distinguishable, even in normal situations. In addition to this, the victim may be told that the caller has the flu. Furthermore, the victims often lose their usual state of mind in this 'emergency' situation and thus believe the story.

"Ore, Ore" fraudsters' tricks are becoming even more well-calculated these days. Sometimes a group of them will play out roles as policeman, lawyer and insurance investigator to make it seem more realistic. The total amount of money defrauded from victims this year alone has exceeded 100 million yen. According to a recent TV station poll, three out of ten people surveyed said they had either been a victim or knew a victim.

Back to List Page