Gold Bars Increasingly Used in Scams in Japan

Tokyo, Sept. 14 (Jiji Press)--Gold bar scam losses amounted to 8.13 billion yen in Japan in the first half of 2026, already topping the 6.02 billion yen lost in all of last year, police data have shown.

The National Police Agency estimates that two-thirds of the latest losses, or roughly 5.3 billion yen, stemmed from scams in which fraudsters impersonated police officers. Scammers tell victims, "Your bank accounts have been used in crimes" or make similar claims, and then urge them to send gold bars to speed up investigations.

Investment scams conducted through social media in which victims were told to buy gold to put toward investments led to about 2 billion yen in losses.

Gold is increasingly chosen because, unlike bank transfers, it is not subject to daily transaction limits or the same level of monitoring for suspicious transactions. The metal is also relatively easy to carry for its value.

With gold prices rising, the average loss per case reached about 52.5 million yen, nearly 10 times the average for online or other scams classified as special fraud in Japan.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]