Losses from cash card collection scams surge to ¥5.21 bil in Japan in 2019

Gees! There are some seriously gullible and/or uneducated people in Japan. What kind of fool would give their bank card and PIN to anybody? "I'm a policeman (ID?) and I want your card because somebody has been using it." Seriously! I have apps on my phone for my banks' credit and debit cards and can check an activity statement within seconds.

Seriously! I have apps on my phone for my banks' credit and debit cards and can check an activity statement within seconds.

You do, but an 85 year old will not have that phone or app.

What kind of fool would give their bank card and PIN to anybody?

It's been shown that the older people get, the more they are likely to trust strangers. This is a result of brain chemistry changing as we age.

There is also a degree of dementia there in many older people. Some may still be early and undiagnosed, some may be diagnosed and still early.

Gees! There are some seriously gullible and/or uneducated people in Japan.

No, they are old. Similar things happen to old people in your home country and could even happen to you when you reach 90. Old people (really old) can be like small children when being taken advantage of.

There is also a degree of dementia there in many older people. 

YES. If you ever had a family member in that situation and be a scam target you would understand.

Lots of professional liars out there these days and getting better, the only difference is their not paid politicians.

If you ever had a family member in that situation and be a scam target you would understand.

Exactly. I spent part of my Christmas holiday in the UK dealing with this very problem after my dear old mother gave out all her credit card details to some scammer selling electrical appliance insurance over the telephone. I couldn't believe it and she was shocked that she'd been fooled herself. Old age, a touch of dementia and poor health is a bad combination...

This exact scam has been going on in Japan for generations. They either pose as family members or law enforcement. There are scams in the world that I still don't understand how they continue to work to this day.

The Japanese scams, the online girlfriend scam, the african royalty scam, and the winning money scam where you have to first send in money. These scams just keep winning.

At some point people are just going to have to take some responsibility for their aging mothers and fathers and realize that they are being slowly reduced to teenagers and children in mind. You don't just put thousands in the bank and hand them a card do you? It does not matter what method you use to give them access to cash, many can be bilked right out of it. The only way is for people close to them to stand up and be the constant arbiter.

Yakuza again!

At some point people are just going to have to take some responsibility for their aging mothers and fathers and realize that they are being slowly reduced to teenagers and children in mind.

No one has said otherwise. But this doesn't happen overnight, and often is happening before anyone really puts it all together. And these scams take place then. They aren't scams that happen to those in the throes of Alzheimer's. This is not any kind of exact science, and it's not like dealing with children either, because these are adults with their own money and lives, who slowly slip into old age. Not children who aren't expected to have responsibility for themselves from the get-go. At the first sign of a confused response, should all money be taken away from the elderly instantly?

It's a pretty ridiculous equivalency, and completely ignores the nuances and grey areas of the real-world.

I'd like to propose a more hardline attitude to people.

When it comes to Money, don't trust anyone over the phone or at your door - no matter how they're dressed or who they purport to be.

Bank stuff... go to the actual bank - the risk comes, when it's an online only bank, in which case, you have to go to their website, and hope its not been spoofed.

Long lost family asking for money... "Take a hike, you couldn't be bothered to get in touch, even occasionally, except for now when you want money ? On your Bike, get a job!".

Trespassing is illegal even in Japan - Put a notice upon your Postbox saying No Fliers/No NHK/No Jehovah Witnesses, etc... and should one turn up, call 110 and crack open a cold one whilst you watch them be arrested - https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2009/12/06/reader-mail/scope-of-the-trespassing-ruling/#.XlEAOCgzZaQ

I am sort of waiting for one these clowns to appear here... but I suppose they check their victims in advance'?