警察白書 国民の「抵抗力」が被害を防ぐ

The Yomiuri Shimbun(Aug. 11, 2009)
Develop immunity to remittance frauds
警察白書　国民の「抵抗力」が被害を防ぐ（8月11日付・読売社説）

This year's white paper on police published by the National Police Agency has a special section titled "Measures against crimes that threaten people's daily lives."
　今年の警察白書は「日常生活を脅かす犯罪」を特集した。

As examples of such crimes, it mentions bank remittance fraud and vicious business scams. It details current police measures against remittance fraud and lists related problems to be tackled.
　具体例として、振り込め詐欺や悪徳商法などを挙げ、特に振り込め詐欺について、警察の取り組みや今後の課題を詳述している。

The total number of criminal offense cases has been decreasing in recent years after peaking in 2002. But the white paper points out that the spread of such crimes is "one of the factors preventing people's uneasiness about public security from being allayed."
　刑法犯罪の全体の件数は２００２年をピークに減少している。それでも「治安に対する国民の不安がぬぐえない要因の一つ」に、これらの犯罪の広がりがあると白書は指摘する。

If the current economic slump prolongs, new types of crimes that threaten people's daily lives may proliferate.
　経済不況が長引けば、日常生活を脅かす新手の犯罪が次々と増殖する恐れがあるだろう。

The police white paper emphasizes that it is important to enhance people's understanding and cooperation when it comes to fighting crime, such as by encouraging members of the public to provide information to police, and to boost people's crime-prevention capability. Indeed, preventing remittance fraud is not something that can be accomplished by police alone.
　白書は、被害防止には情報提供などの「国民の理解と協力」、犯罪に対する「国民の抵抗力」を高めていくことが重要だと強調している。まさに、警察だけで解決できる問題ではない。

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Various ploys used

There are a variety of ploys used in the commission of remittance fraud, including the "It's me" type, in which offenders pretend to be a son or grandchild of the targeted victim, and the refund type, in which offenders pass themselves off as workers at social insurance and tax offices.
　息子や孫などを装うオレオレ詐欺、社会保険事務所や税務署の職員を名乗る還付金詐欺など、振り込め詐欺の手口は様々だ。

People across the country have been victimized. In many cases, money remitted to criminals is withdrawn from ATMs in the Tokyo metropolitan area. The bank accounts and cell phones used in the crimes belong to third parties or fictitious people.
　被害は全国に及ぶが、被害金の多くは首都圏の現金自動預け払い機（ＡＴＭ）で引き出される。犯行に使われる預貯金口座と携帯電話は他人名義や架空名義だ。

The criminals in the groups that run the scams perform different tasks, and it is not easy to gain a clear picture of how the frauds are perpetrated. For instance, a group might consist of a person who dupes victims, one who obtains bank accounts and cell phones, and another who withdraws swindled money. The ratio of arrests to cases of remittance fraud remains slightly more than 20 percent.
　犯行グループは、だまし役、預貯金口座や携帯電話の調達役、詐取した金の引き出し役など役割分担し、全容を見せない。検挙率も２割強にとどまっている。

The NPA has been making efforts to combat such crimes, with police forces nationwide alerted to take countermeasures. For instance, it has inputted the modus operandi of all reported remittance fraud cases into a database that can be used in investigations. It also has deployed a special full-time investigation force comprising investigators from the Metropolitan Police Department and prefectural police headquarters in the metropolitan area.
　警察庁は犯行手口をデータベース化して捜査に活用し、都道府県警察の捜査員による専従班を首都圏に投入するなど、全国警察を挙げた取り組みを展開してきた。

These were necessary responses to fight a crime that is a threat to people all over the country.
全国的に脅威となっている犯罪に対しては、必要な対応であった。

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Cat-and-mouse game continues

After banks limited the amount of cash that may be transferred via ATM to 100,000 yen, cases of money being remitted between accounts increased. Offenders began using a special postal package service to receive money instead of ATMs, which are subject to heightened security measures to counter remittance fraud.
　ＡＴＭによる現金の振り込みを１０万円までに制限したら、口座間送金をさせる手口が増加した。警戒の強いＡＴＭを避けて、郵便の専用封筒で私設私書箱あてに現金を送らせる手口が増えてきた。

Police will have to continue their cat-and-mouse game with these wily offenders. To prevent new scams from being devised, it is crucial to prevent criminals from using and coming up with new ways to foil police, including revising related laws and creating new ones.
　犯罪者の悪知恵とのいたちごっこが続く。新たな手口には、法整備を含めて、確実に抜け道をふさいでいくことが大事だ。

What can be done to prevent bank accounts, ATMs and cell phones from being used in crimes? Financial institutions and cell phone service operators should think seriously about measures to solve this problem.
　預貯金口座やＡＴＭ、携帯電話を、いかに犯罪に利用されないようにするか。金融機関や携帯電話事業者も真剣に対応すべきだ。

The need for cooperation among agencies and ministries concerned--including the Financial Services Agency, the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry and the consumer affairs agency that is to be launched as early as autumn--is also increasingly evident.
金融庁、総務省、秋にも発足予定の消費者庁など、関係省庁間の連携の必要性も増している。

In its conclusion, the white paper describes the importance of reviving solidarity among people in communities as well as bonds among family members, which are weaker than they used to be, so society as a whole can combat crime.
　白書は最後に、希薄化した地域の連帯や家族の絆(きずな)を再生し、社会全体で犯罪に立ち向かうことの重要さに言及している。

What should we do to prevent criminals from cheating us? Steady efforts by individual communities are also now required to combat crime.
どうすれば犯罪者につけ入るすきを与えないか。地域ごとの地道な取り組みも求められている。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Aug. 11, 2009)
（2009年8月11日01時07分 読売新聞）