Social Media-Related Misdeeds Highlighted in Police Report from Japan
Japan's National Police Agency Releases White Paper on Social Media-Related Crimes
The Japanese National Police Agency (NPA) has published its annual white paper on July 29, 2025, highlighting the trends of crimes involving social media and the methods used by loosely organized crime groups known as tokuryu.
The report reveals that social media is being used by these criminal groups for various illicit activities, including:
- Recruiting perpetrators anonymously to join their groups through social platforms.
- Conducting investment and romance frauds, with over 10,000 cases detected in 2024 involving a total loss of approximately 127.2 billion yen.
- Facilitating drug trafficking operations.
- Engaging in child prostitution via social media contacts.
The anonymity and broad reach of social media platforms are exploited by these groups to contact ordinary citizens and commit such crimes.
To counteract these social media-enabled crimes, the NPA has enhanced investigative techniques such as digital forensics (to extract data from devices), cryptocurrency tracking, and AI-driven cyber patrolling. Furthermore, police efforts include undercover operations using fictitious identities to infiltrate these groups and monitoring financial transactions by opening bank accounts under false names to track money flows linked to tokuryu activities.
However, the report does not specify the geographical distribution of the social media-linked fraud cases, nor does it provide details on the specific tokuryu groups involved in these crimes. Additionally, there is no information on any preventive measures or strategies to combat social media-related crimes in the report.
In summary, the common criminal methods used by tokuryu groups on social media include recruitment, scams (investment and romance fraud), drug trafficking, and child prostitution, facilitated by the anonymity and accessibility of the platforms. The NPA continues to work diligently to address these challenges and protect citizens from these crimes.
[1] Japanese National Police Agency White Paper, 2025 [2] Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Report, 2024 [3] Yomiuri Shimbun, "Tokuryu Groups Use Social Media for Crimes", July 30, 2025
- In the report, the Japanese National Police Agency (NPA) implied that tokuryu groups utilize social media platforms to execute a variety of crimes, such as recruiting anonymously, conducting investment and romance frauds, facilitating drug trafficking, and engaging in child prostitution.
- The General-news media outlets, including the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department Report (2024) and Yomiuri Shimbun, have reported extensively on how these tech-savvy tokuryu groups employ technology like social media to commit these crimes, while the NPA has taken measures such as digital forensics, cryptocurrency tracking, and AI-driven cyber patrolling to counteract the expanding crime-and-justice issues.
