The so-called “inspection scams” are on the rise, where scammers suddenly show up and say “your roof is out of place” or “there is a risk of water leakage,” and then trick people out of exorbitant amounts of money under the pretense of repairs. In Japan, the number of such scams seems to have increased recently, but if we look overseas, similar scams have been rampant for several years.
About five years ago, an acquaintance of mine who lives in the UK fell victim to this scam. Or rather, he almost fell victim to it.
An Irish man came to his house and showed him a photo of his broken roof, saying, “It’s dangerous, so it needs to be repaired.” If that was the case, my acquaintance asked for it to be repaired, but the repair costs were ridiculously high. Suspicious, he consulted his acquaintance’s Hungarian friend who works in the construction industry in London, and was told that it was a typical scam. When his friend checked, the roof was not broken, and there was no sign of it having been repaired. Thanks to his friend’s intervention and negotiations, my acquaintance was not tricked out of his money.
“I was deceived by immigrants, and I was saved by immigrants,” my acquaintance said, shrugging his shoulders.
Most new crimes occurring in Japan have already been seen abroad. My impression is that when a new crime emerges overseas, it occurs in Japan a few years later. Japan may be lagging behind in crime trends as well. If this is the case, then by checking the crime situation overseas, we can predict and prepare for future crimes that will become prevalent in Japan.
Thefts are apparently on the rise in London at the moment. It’s a very old-fashioned scam, but smartphone thefts are apparently becoming quite serious. Smartphones are a huge source of personal information, so they are probably a big draw for criminals. There are apparently many cases of thieves riding electric scooters, sneaking up on people and snatching their phones. There are also a lot of “hit-and-run scams” where thieves intentionally bump into people and then demand compensation, claiming that they broke their glasses or watch.
In the near future, similar crimes may become rampant in Japan as well. (Kitajima Kei)

※Translating Japanese articles into English with AI