Fukuoka Prefectural Police enhance crime prevention app to combat phone scams

The Fukuoka Prefectural Police have introduced new features to their crime prevention app, ‘Mimamocchi’, to combat rising telephone fraud. Starting in October, the app includes a search function that allows users to check if a phone number has been previously used in scams by utilizing a database aggregated by the National Police Agency. This is the first app in Japan to offer such a search capability.

In addition to the search function, the app now includes features to automatically block international calls and calls from unidentified numbers. This update follows reports that approximately half of the numbers used in telephone scams begin with international prefixes such as ‘+1’ or ‘+44’.

As of late September, Fukuoka Prefecture reported 1,340 recognized cases of telephone fraud, with damages totaling 8.12 billion yen. The police aim to use these technological tools to help citizens identify suspicious calls and prevent financial losses, including recent incidents involving the theft of cryptocurrency.