$21m stolen via phishing scams in Japan in H1

Phishing scams in Japan in the first half (H1) of 2023 resulted in unauthorized money transfers totaling around 3 billion yen (about 21 million U.S. dollars), the National Police Agency (NPA) said Tuesday, reported Xinhua.

A record 2,322 scams mainly involving phishing this year have caused financial loss nearing the record high of 3.07 billion yen (about 21.4 million U.S. dollars) registered in 2015, according to a report by the NPA.

The surge in cases comes as internet banking expands and phishing emails become increasingly sophisticated, said the NPA, adding that financial institutions, particularly those without physical branches, were hit especially hard in the first half of this year.

Phishing emails and text messages aiming to steal internet banking IDs and passwords typically impersonate financial institutions and redirect users to counterfeit websites.