Furikome Sagi is a term used to describe a fraud using phone calls. Swindlers, they call victims to "trick them into believing invented stories and paying money into a certain bank account" (translation based on daily yomiuri).
Swindlers, they target people over 60s; they call you up in early day time so that banks are open and you are less likely to reach your family members at work. They typically call that it is police who's calling, and will tell you your son or daughter is in trouble. Whether it is a car accident or a sexual harassment on train, they convince that money can settle the matter between the other end who is 'seriously hurt'.
It's funny to think that people can be easily tricked with these stories, but people do have panic attacks when it comes to emergencies involving your family. Older generation might not have skills to operate ATMs to transfer money, so these swindlers, they KINDLY give instructions over the mobile phone how you could do it realtime. In a way, I am impressed of their skills to make people use a device for the first time!
If you are interested in how severe the incidents are, you should simply see the amount that has been reported to be transferred. In 2007 these swindlers earned 25,142,421,788 JPY - that's about 200 million Euros.
Because of the sheer scale of these crimes, banks started to act. Chiba Bank has now decided to stall a mobile jamming device in their banks. Together with a company who has developed the device for hospitals and concert halls, the bank has developed an equipment which the interfering signal can be adjusted to work within a very small (1 to 2 meters) range that could only affect the ATM area.
Although the idea of stalling a phone jamming equipments has been considered and reported for months now, it will only be in November that ATM will be in action. The biggest reason was because of Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, which controls the Radio Law in Japan, has expressed reluctance to the idea. The ministry says that the license can only be issued to institutions where, one, there is a substantial space so it will not jam the mobile phones used nearby, and two, there is a clear evidence that incoming notifications of mobile phones can be hinder its business. It is mandatory to fulfill these two conditions, and the ministry has given permissions only to concert halls; other public venues, like museums and libraries, though their nature is public, were considered not to qualify for the second condition, and have not been permitted.
It is funny that these solutions are often led by industry, not by government. We shall see if other brave banks are to follow the brave Chiba Bank.
And speaking of the radio law, the approach seems to differ a lot by country; For instance, France has had a law to allow phone jamming in public venues since 2002, but US and Canada seems to be reluctant of the idea.
In English:
Chiba Bank - http://ir.chibabank.co.jp/english/
Japanese Radio law - http://www.soumu.go.jp/joho_tsusin/eng/Resources/laws/2003RL.pdf
French Cinemas act to jam mobiles: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3735936.stm
In Japanese:
Chiba nippo news: http://www.chibanippo.co.jp/news/chiba/society_kiji.php?i=nesp1223950299
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