Latest news with #Demae-can
Asahi Shimbun
6 days ago
- Asahi Shimbun
7 held in scam that ‘employed' 1,400 foreigners without visas
Tokyo police have arrested seven people in connection with an elaborate scam that allowed 1,400 foreigners without work visas to pose as food delivery drivers. The Metropolitan Police Department announced the arrests July 25 of Kotaro Yamazaki, 51, a company executive and six others, including a 28-year-old Vietnamese man. The suspects are believed to have netted about 54 million yen ($366,000) from the scam that targeted the Demae-can food delivery service company from as far back as 2022. The operation centered on the illegal transfer of delivery accounts. Foreigners from six nations, including Uzbekistan and Vietnam, were hoodwinked by Yamazaki and the others, according to the police. The seven suspects conspired between Sept. 23 and Oct. 1 last year to have a 30-year-old Japanese man apply for and receive a Demae-can account knowing full well it would be used by a Vietnamese. Yamazaki and his conspirators also used social media to publicize moonlighting opportunities and asked Japanese applicants to 'lend' their Demae-can accounts. The Japanese individual received 20,000 yen as a 'matching fee' if a foreigner was found to use the account and make deliveries. Yamazaki's group also cooperated with a broker who gathered foreigners. The broker received 5,000 yen every month from the delivery fees paid by Demae-can to the Japanese owner of the account. The Japanese owner also received 20,000 yen a month for lending the account. Any money left over in the account for that month was paid to the foreigner who actually made the deliveries. An official with Demae-can told The Asahi Shimbun the company was considering legal action against the group.
The Mainichi
17-05-2025
- The Mainichi
Foreign delivery workers posing under Japanese IDs spotlights verification loopholes
TOKYO -- Police here are investigating an operation in which over 150 foreign nationals apparently worked illegally as delivery drivers, taking on Japanese names. Recent arrests of Japanese and Uzbek nationals suspected to have been involved in the scheme have highlighted loopholes in worker identity verification systems and the complex employment situation facing foreigners in Japan. One 30-something Uzbek man living in Tokyo, who originally came to Japan as a student in 2018, spent about three years working for major food delivery operator Demae-can. The man said he had legally used his own name in his job as a delivery worker. However, he stated that some Uzbekistan nationals he knew assumed Japanese identities for their jobs. According to him, there were sometimes disputes between foreigners and the Japanese citizens who had lent them the use of their identities, often over compensation. Posing as Japanese enables Uzbek nationals and others who entered Japan with visas that restrict employment opportunities to secure work unlawfully. International students can only work up to 28 hours per week under their student visas, while those on short-term stay visas are typically not permitted to work at all. However, by using a Japanese identity, such individuals can evade these restrictions. An Uzbek man in his 40s who works at a Japanese language school in Tokyo remarked that "delivery jobs are popular because you can earn money even if your Japanese language skills are limited." He added that Uzbek nationals in Japan frequently use the messaging app Telegram to coordinate job listings for delivery and construction-related work. The Immigration Services Agency reported that Uzbekistan nationals residing in Japan have increased nearly sixfold over the past decade, from 1,184 people as of the end of June 2014 to 6,962 by the end of June 2024. The language school worker explained that in recent years, Japan has become known in Uzbekistan as a developed country where it's relatively easy to obtain a visa. The Metropolitan Police Department suspects Kotaro Yamazaki, 50, who has been arrested on suspicion of fraud-related offenses, took advantage of the employment difficulties faced by Uzbek nationals. Investigative sources say the reason why many Uzbek workers have been drawn to Demae-can specifically is the company's lax identity verification system. At the time of the alleged offenses in October 2023, the delivery firm had not yet introduced facial recognition for identity checks at the login stage of its delivery app. Although a facial recognition feature was introduced in December 2024, the system only randomly prompts identity checks at login, making it difficult to completely eliminate identity fraud. A Demae-can spokesperson stated that the company first identified delivery staff working without the proper residency status in January 2024, adding, "We have since strengthened identity verification processes and registration screening measures and will absolutely not tolerate the improper lending of accounts."
