Cell phone firms eye new anti-fraud rules

Domestic cell phone companies, including the nation's [Japan's] three leading firms, will voluntarily introduce new rules to prevent so-called remittance fraud using cell phones, such as only allowing up to five lines per customer, it was learned Wednesday.

Police will cooperate by, for instance, responding to inquiries from cell phone retailers requesting information about driver's licenses to prevent the use of forged licenses.

At present, driver's licenses are used for about 70 percent of identifications when customers concluding cell phone contracts at shop counters need to prove who they are.

The new voluntary rules will be enforced as soon as NTT Docomo Inc., SoftBank Mobile Corp. and KDDI Corp. and others are ready to implement the regulations. The exact timing for the new scheme is being coordinated among concerned parties, sources said.

The total costs incurred by remittance fraud cases has topped 100 billion yen over the past four years, with some victims driven to suicide.

In one particularly common style of remittance fraud, a con man concludes several dozen contracts under one name using a forged driver's license. He and his accomplices then concoct stories and begin calling people to try to persuade them to send money.

In response to the problem, the Liberal Democratic Party established a task force on combatting remittance fraud, headed by House of Representatives member Isshu Sugawara, which reached a basic agreement on the rules with cell phone firms and the National Police Agency.

According to the agreement, the number of cell phone lines that can be held under one person's name will be limited to five, the sources said.

In addition, when cell phone firms judge it will be necessary to confirm the identities of clients when concluding contracts with them, they will ask police to confirm the authenticity of the customers' licenses.

If a customer refuses to submit to the policy inquiry, firms will decline a contract, and will contact police if they become suspicious about a customer, the sources added.

Cell phone firms eye new anti-fraud rules : National : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri)

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