The National Police Agency will share information on bank accounts used to receive money from special fraud — scams that often target elderly people by phone or online — with financial institutions across Japan, the agency announced on Nov. 5. Banks will check their transaction records for transfers into those accounts and report them to police, who may then contact people who sent money without realizing they were being defrauded.
The agency signed agreements on Nov. 5 with 30 financial institutions, including major banks and internet banks. Including institutions that had already worked with prefectural police, account information will go to 807 financial institutions nationwide. The system begins operating on Nov. 9.
How the system works
Prefectural police that receive a fraud complaint pass details of the receiving account to the agency, which consolidates them. The agency then provides account numbers and account holders' names to financial institutions through a file-sharing service.
Banks use that information to check whether anyone has transferred money into a flagged account and, if so, supply the details to police. Because victims may not yet know they have been targeted, police will contact them directly.
Cooperation of this kind began in 2024 between Saitama Prefectural Police and Saitama Resona Bank, among others, and has since spread to police forces nationwide.