Gold Bars Increasingly Used in Scams in Japan

In Japan, losses from gold bar scams in the first half of 2026 soared to 8.13 billion yen, surpassing the 6.02 billion yen lost throughout all of the previous year, according to police data. The National Police Agency predicts that around two-thirds of the recent losses, roughly 5.3 billion yen, resulted from scams where fraudsters pretended to be police officers.

These scammers inform victims that their bank accounts have been involved in criminal activities or use similar tactics, urging the victims to send gold bars to expedite investigations. Investment scams through social media, where individuals were persuaded to purchase gold for investment purposes, led to approximately 2 billion yen in losses.

Gold becomes an attractive choice for scammers due to its lack of daily transaction limits and limited monitoring for suspicious transactions, unlike bank transfers. Additionally, the metal is relatively simple to transport in relation to its value. As gold prices have been on the rise, the average loss per case increased to about 52.5 million yen, which is nearly ten times the average loss for online or other types of scams classified as special fraud in Japan.