Officials investigating fake residence card scams in Japan say the problem has increased sixfold in five years with Tokyo, the capital, yielding the highest number of arrests. Photo: AP
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https://scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2184108/chinese-man-arrested-japan-forging-residence-permits-may-be-part People & Culture
Chinese man arrested in Japan for forging residence permits ‘may be part of bigger operation’
- Suspect began printing fakes at fraction of black market cost, leading Japanese authorities to believe high-quality reproductions were not the work of one man
Japanese immigration officers confiscate 2,300 blank white cards which they believe were to be used to print fake permits for illegal workers. Photo: Sina
A Chinese man was arrested in Japan for forging official residence cards for foreigners, Japanese News Network reported on Monday.
The 27-year-old was detained after the Immigration Bureau of Japan searched his flat in the city of Kawaguchi, Saitama prefecture, on January 11.
The officers confiscated 2,300 blank white cards which they said were used to print the permits to be sold to illegal workers from countries such as China, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Orders were placed through a social networking site, then the fake permits were mailed to customers. Each card was sold for 1,000 yen (US$9.20), the suspect was quoted as saying.
He began printing fakes in December after getting into financial trouble and had delivered 1,000 orders, the report quoted the bureau as saying.
The average price of a fake permit on the black market typically ranged from 20,000 and 30,000 yen, according to bureau figures reported by news website Jnocnews.jp. Officials said the batch of low-priced fake permits were part of an effort involving a large organisation.
Japan introduced the official permits in 2012 for foreigners staying in the country for up to five years. Recipients typically included students, interns, employees, and spouses of Japanese citizens.
Japanese immigration officials investigating the Chinese forgery suspect say black market permits can cost 20,000 to 30,000 yen and his low-key, low-cost operation may be part of something bigger. Photo: Shutterstock
People with fake permits are expelled by the government, while employers are punished if they hire staff who use fake permits.
There were 523 cases involving falsified residence cards across Japan in the first 10 months of 2018, six times the number reported in 2013, news website People.cn quoted police as saying.
Tokyo topped the list with 192 cases, followed by 51 in Aichi prefecture – where Nagoya is the capital – and 33 in Osaka.
Last month, 10 Chinese were arrested at a solar power station in Shiriuchi, Hokkaido, for working on fake permanent residence cards, while 46 other suspects evaded arrest.
The group entered Japan using a procedure designed for cruise tourists, Kyodo News reported.
In May, a Chinese man was arrested after he used a fake permit to apply for a driving licence in Japan. He said that the card was bought online from other Chinese nationals, Yomiuri newspaper reported.
The Kawaguchi fraud prompted a strong reaction on China’s microblogging service, Weibo.
“Will you not do such things in a foreign country? Foreigners will hate Chinese staying there,” one user wrote.
“We made so much effort to get a visa and get everything prepared. How can these people just fake a permit? This is horrible,” another wrote.