9,000 cybercrimes confirmed by Japan police in 2018

TOKYO, Mar 7, 2019, Kyodo. The number of cybercrimes confirmed by police across Japan in 2018 including many cases of child pornography and fraud stood at 9,040, hitting a record high for the third consecutive year, the National Police Agency data showed Thursday, reported the Kyodo.

The figure marked an increase of more than 1,000 from 2014, with an NPA official saying the situation “remains serious.”

Total cryptocurrency losses due to hacking amounted to about 67.7 billion yen ($610 million) last year, including around 58 billion yen worth of NEM digital currency stolen from a Tokyo-based bourse operator Coincheck Inc. in January.

Police confirmed 169 cases of hacking targeting cryptocurrency in 2018, up 20 from the previous year. All remain unsolved.

Among the 9,040 cybercrimes, the highest number of 2,057 concerned child prostitution and child pornography, followed by 972 cases of fraud and 926 related to juveniles, such as sexual misconduct involving minors under age 18 or younger through online dating.

The number of cases of money illegally transferred from accounts via internet banking services fell 103 from the previous year to 322, with the sums involved totaling 461 million yen. Around 60 percent of the recipient bank accounts were under Vietnamese names.

The agency also said its system detected a daily average of 2,752.8 instances of suspicious access, including cyberattacks, in 2018, up 859.8 from last year. By country, 20.8 percent originated from Russia, followed by 14.1 percent from China and 12.6 percent from the United States.