＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳 | 団塊世代が雑学や面白い話を発信しています
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
On February 28th of this year (2019), an 80-year-old woman living alone was found dead with her hands and feet tied in an apartment in Koto Ward, Tokyo. The victim had consulted a male acquaintance about a suspicious phone call she had received in mid-February asking, “Do you have any money?” As there are similarities with two other robberies that occurred in Shibuya Ward in January and February, this is believed to be a case of “appointment phone robbery.”
Specialized frauds such as “it’s me” fraud, “bank transfer fraud” and “refund fraud” continue to occur, but recently there seems to be an even more violent “appointment phone robbery” occurring.
１．What is “appointment phone robbery”?
“Appointment calls,” which involve calling to confirm whether or not someone has cash, have been seen as a tactic specific to “special frauds” such as “bank transfer fraud.” However, this case refers to a robbery that uses that same tactic.
According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, 34,658 “calls that appear to be appointment calls” (calls indicating a crime) were confirmed in Tokyo in 2018, a 2.3-fold increase from 2016 (15,010 calls).
A senior Metropolitan Police Department official pointed out, “As measures such as restricting ATM withdrawals are implemented, they may be trying to get their hands on quick cash.”
It is unclear whether they switched to robbery because they were unable to deceive their targets, or whether they made the call with the intention of robbery from the beginning, but this is a new type of crime and it is certain to continue to increase in the future.
２．Preventive measures against “appointment phone robbery”
(1) Use the phone’s “phone number display function” and do not answer calls from “unknown numbers.”
(2) Do not carelessly tell others that you have money at home.
(3) Set up an answering machine and call back after listening to the call.
(4) Use the automatic call recording function.
(5) Even if you do answer the phone, if you hear something suspicious like “emergency” or “money talk,” hang up immediately.
(6) Make use of the nuisance prevention function.
Some of the latest phones have great features, such as:
Before a call: If you set the “Anti-nuisance” function, the phone will answer before the call rings and play a message to the other party saying “The call will be recorded.”
During a call: The phone will alternate between a ringtone and a warning announcement.
During a call: When you answer the phone, the call will be automatically recorded.
As an aside, if you are using the “Number Display Service”, the “nuisance prevention” function will not work when a call comes from someone registered on the parent unit.