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July 03, 2026
 

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ORGANIZED CRIME

A former scam hub facility in Surin province, Thailand, near the Cambodian border, on March 12
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 17, 2026
Japanese personal info left at Thai-Cambodian border scam base
On the 800,000-square-meter compound hosting some 160 buildings, an estimated 20,000 people had been working in scam operations.
Jinryu Kano, a member of a group affiliated with Yamaguchi-gumi, is taken to the Metropolitan Police Department's Ueno police station in Tokyo on Saturday following his arrest.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 16, 2026
Tokyo robbery suspects bought luxury items with stolen money, police say
Seven were arrested Saturday for allegedly stealing three suitcases containing ¥423 million in cash on a street in the Taito Ward and assaulting a 43-year-old man.
Seven individuals were arrested on Saturday on suspicion of stealing three suitcases containing a total of ¥423 million in cash from a group of people in Tokyo in January.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 14, 2026
Seven arrested over robbery of ¥423 million in Tokyo
Senior members of groups linked to the Yamaguchi-gumi and Sumiyoshi-kai crime syndicates were among those arrested.
Chinese citizens outside the embassy in Phnom Penh
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Mar 8, 2026
After the raids, Asia’s billion-dollar scam trade flickers back
Despite evidence of a scam-center crackdown being apparent all over Cambodia’s capital, operations still come back. Turns out, stopping scammers is tricky business.
Taiwan auctions off luxury cars linked to the Prince Group, suspected of running scam centers in Cambodia, in Taipei on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Mar 4, 2026
Taiwan indicts 62 people linked to suspected scam center operator Prince Group
Taipei prosecutors say Taiwan was one of the locations where the group’s chairman had funneled funds via shell companies, buying luxury goods, sports cars and real estate.
Takeshi Ebisawa, a member of a yakuza crime group, was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a New York court on Tuesday after being convicted of trafficking nuclear material, drugs and weapons.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Mar 4, 2026
U.S. court convicts Japanese man of trafficking nuclear material
Takeshi Ebisawa, 61, pleaded guilty to a total of six charges in January 2025.
Computers, smartphones and other equipment seized during a raid on a scam center in Kandal province, Cambodia, last year.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 26, 2026
Cambodia claims its crackdown has halved online scam activity
The Southeast Asian nation is under international pressure to dismantle networks accused of stealing billions annually from people worldwide.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino speaks during the inauguration of the Colombian Football Federation’s hotel, where he expressed his support for Mexico ahead of the World Cup, in Barranquilla, Colombia, on Tuesday.
SOCCER
Feb 25, 2026
FIFA boss ‘very reassured’ about World Cup in Mexico despite violence
“Very reassured, everything’s good. It’s going to be spectacular,” Infantino said in the Colombian city of Barranquilla.
Soldiers walk past a bus torched by unknown assailants in Acapulco, Mexico, on Sunday after organized crime groups launched attacks in several states following a military operation that killed drug lord Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho," earlier that day.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 25, 2026
Strike on Mexican drug lord tests state power and resolve
The killing of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, a.k.a. “El Mencho,” by Mexico’s armed forces on Sunday unleashed a wave of violence across the country.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum reacts during a news conference about the wave of violence in the country, following the killing of a drug lord in a military operation, at Palacio Nacional in Mexico City on Monday.
WORLD
Feb 24, 2026
Unprecedented military raid is risky gamble for Mexico’s Sheinbaum
The raid that killed a most wanted cartel leader was the president’s biggest bet yet, doubling down on her historic offensive against Mexico’s organized crime groups.
According to a ruling, Toshiya Fujita was involved in a total of seven robbery cases in Tokyo and three other prefectures between October 2022 and January 2023, including one in which a 90-year-old woman was killed in Komae, Tokyo.
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2026
‘Luffy’ crime ring member sentenced to life in prison
Of the four arrested and indicted senior members of the crime ring, Toshiya Fujita, 41, was the second to receive a sentence.
An analyst works at the INTERPOL cybercrime intelligence unit at the organization's facility in Singapore on Jan. 29.
WORLD / Crime & Legal / FOCUS
Feb 15, 2026
Interpol backroom warriors fight cybercriminals ‘weaponizing’ AI
AI is helping criminals create sophisticated deepfake audio and video to endorse scam investments and helping make dodgy online messages appear more genuine.
Police officers warn against special fraud cases during a crime prevention event in Tokyo in December.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Feb 12, 2026
Fraud soars to record high in Japan as scam tactics grow more sophisticated
Combined losses from special fraud, romance and social-media based investment scams soared to a record ¥324.11 billion in 2025.
Counterfeit U.S. currency is strewn across the floor inside a compound in O'Smach used for scam operations in Samraong, Oddar Meanchey province, Cambodia, on Feb. 2.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 11, 2026
Cambodia says it has closed almost 200 scam centers in fraud crackdown
Thousands of scam workers, ​some of them trafficking victims confined in ⁠brutal conditions, have fled compounds in recent weeks seeking to return home.
Shwe Kokko city, a casino, entertainment, and tourism complex,from Thailand's side of the border after Bangkok said it would suspend electricity supply to some border areas with Myanmar to try to curb scam centers, in the Mae Sot district, Thailand, on Feb. 5, 2025
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Feb 10, 2026
AI helps scam centers evade crackdown in Asia and dupe more victims
Rather than be eradicated, Interpol officials see scam centers as more likely to evolve as artificial intelligence allows operators to scale up at low cost.
The National Police Agency headquarters in Tokyo. The NPA has released a report on its undercover investigations into "yami baito" jobs.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 29, 2026
Japanese police conduct 13 undercover probes into criminal gig work
The probes, involving the use of fake identification documents to apply for such illicit jobs, have led to the arrests of five people.
Hiroaki Obata
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 27, 2026
Police arrest head of Natural, Japan’s largest sex worker scouting ring
Hiroaki Obata, 40, was taken into custody on the island of Amami Oshima, Kagoshima Prefecture, after police publicly listed him as a wanted suspect.
Workers leave a suspected scam-center compound in Sihanoukville on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jan 16, 2026
Fraudsters flee Cambodia’s ‘scam city’ after alleged kingpin deported to China
The Cambodian government has said it is cracking down on the multibillion-dollar industry but residents said many people moved out days before the arrival of authorities.
Suspects transferred from Cambodia and arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department at Narita Airport on Wednesday.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jan 15, 2026
13 arrested in Japan over Cambodia phone scam ring
The suspects, ranging in age from their 20s to 60s, were arrested for alleged fraud after being flown back to Japan.
Cambodia Deputy Prime Minister Prak Sokhonn addresses the 80th United Nations General Assembly, at the U.N. headquarters in New York on Sept. 27.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Jan 14, 2026
Cambodia to keep up crackdown on scam centers after arrest of alleged mastermind
The arrest of Chen Zhi and his extradition to China was “not the end” of the Southeast Asian nation’s battle to stamp out transborder crimes, its foreign minister said.
Japan triples departure tax in push to combat overtourism
Tourists in Yanaka Ginza, Tokyo, on Wednesday. Japan tripled its International Tourist Tax (departure tax) to ¥3,000 from ¥1,000 on Wednesday for all travelers leaving Japan, regardless of nationality.
‘My dream is broken’: Japan visa rules push out foreign residents
A man orders from a kebab shop in the Okubo district in Tokyo.
More facilities in Japan placing sanitary bins in men’s restrooms
A sanitary bin with an awareness sticker placed in a men's restroom in the Nagasaki Municipal Government building
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
Japanese-language education is at a turning point
The country is gradually transforming Japanese-language education from a volunteer-driven system into a professional, government-supported network to better serve its growing foreign population. 
Six of the best: rikishi of note in each sumo division
Kazuma (right) faces off against future <i>yokozuna</i> Onosato during the All Japan Amateur Sumo Championships at the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo in December 2020.
Some startups see opportunity in an aging Japan
Yasmin Baba, CTO of Amilis, wins the Grand Prize at the Pitch2Tokyo Grand Final on Feb. 19.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Life inside Japan’s largest prison for women
Western-style rooms spanning the size of four tatami mats with hardwood floors, a toilet and soft mattresses on bed frames are designated for foreign nationals and those with health conditions at Tochigi Prison.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.

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