Where Fraud Money Now Leaves From: 72.2% of Transfer Losses Go Through Online Banking

Hello. This is Shemihaza, your sentinel.
The single thing worth taking away today is that the exit route for fraud money has moved from the cash machine and the bank counter to online banking.
The National Police Agency published its provisional figures for the first half of 2026 on 30 July 2026. Of the money lost where the victim made the transfer themselves, the total was 103.34 billion yen, and 72.2% of it left through online banking. That is over seven yen in every ten.

Say "wire transfer fraud" and most people picture someone being sent to a cash machine at a bank or convenience store. What the figures show is that the exit route has moved from there to online banking.
To be precise about it: the NPA counts only whether online banking was used. It does not record what device was used or where the person was.
With that said, there is a difference in the steps involved. Going to a counter or a cash machine means other people may be present.
That is not wishful thinking. The same document records that "through staff at convenience stores, financial institutions and elsewhere speaking to customers, 9,685 cases and 10.83 billion yen of losses were prevented", a prevention rate of 30.9%.
An online-banking transfer has no such trip. So one opportunity for someone to intervene in person is removed.
That does not mean nobody can notice. The same document also covers monitoring by financial institutions and their information-sharing with the police. What disappears is the chance of being spoken to on the spot.

The figures first

All of the following are provisional figures for January to June 2026, and every change is against the same period a year earlier.

• ▸Reported cases of fraud overall: 22,031 (+3,408, +18.3%). Losses: 181.62 billion yen (+61.88 billion, +51.7%)
• ▸Transfers made by victims: 12,263 cases (+468, +4.0%) and 103.34 billion yen (+25.20 billion, +32.2%) — 55.7% of all reported cases and 56.9% of all losses
• ▸Within those transfers, online banking accounts for 6,727 cases (+1,402, +26.3%) and 74.57 billion yen (+22.83 billion, +44.1%)
• ▸As a share of transfers that is 54.9% of cases (+9.7 points) and 72.2% of losses (+5.9 points). Both are up on last year
• ▸Losses run at 1.00 billion yen per day (+340 million, +51.7%), and 8.40 million yen per completed case (+1.844 million, +28.1%)

Note that the share of losses (72.2%) is higher than the share of cases (54.9%). Each online-banking case takes more money. Being able to push a transfer up to the daily limit in one go is the likely reason.

The share differs by fraud type, and investment fraud is the highest

The same document breaks the figures down by type. These are the online-banking shares of transfer losses.

• ▸Social-media investment fraud: 79.8% (+5.0 points). Transfers came to 4,084 cases (+93.9%) and 54.08 billion yen (+100.7%), of which online banking was 2,996 cases (+109.7%) and 43.14 billion yen (+114.1%). By case count it is 73.4%, so close to three cases in every four go through online banking
• ▸Fake-police fraud: 64.2% (-3.4 points). Online banking accounted for 1,400 cases (-30.3%) and 16.44 billion yen (-8.9%); 47.8% by case count
• ▸Social-media romance fraud: 63.2% (-4.1 points). Online banking accounted for 575 cases (-22.0%) and 5.70 billion yen (-39.4%); 48.6% by case count

Only social-media investment fraud doubled in both cases and losses while also raising its online-banking share.
The likely reason is that this approach can run entirely on a screen. The advert, the conversation and the "trading screen" all tend to arrive on the same screen, and once the transfer sits inside that sequence, the victim never has to step outside at all.
This is inference from the shifting shares, though. The NPA records neither device nor location, so it is not established by the source.

The approaches that need a cash machine are shrinking

For contrast, take refund fraud, which depends on getting the victim to a cash machine. First-half reports came to 1,489 (-311, -17.3%) and losses to 3.31 billion yen (-120 million, -3.4%). Both down.
But "down" is not "safe". Extend the same NPA series to the end of July 2026 (provisional) and refund fraud sits at 1,757 cases (-312, -15.1%) while losses reach 4.07 billion yen (+180 million, +4.7%). Cases fell 15% and yet the money went up. Each case is taking more.

The NPA changed how it counts from 2026

Worth knowing before you read a headline figure. From 2026 the NPA reorganised its categories and calls the whole set "special fraud". Two things changed.
First, fake-police fraud, which has been growing fast, became a category of its own.
Second, social-media investment and romance fraud were placed inside special fraud as approaches within it.
Figures for 2025 and earlier are unchanged, so when you see "up X billion on last year", it is worth asking what last year’s number contained. Where the NPA itself prints a year-on-year change, it has aligned the basis for comparison; every change quoted in this article is one of those printed figures.

What to do today

• ✓Lower the daily transfer limit on your online banking to what you actually use. A lower ceiling means less can go in one movement. How you raise it again, and how long the change takes to apply, differs between banks — some apply it at once, others take days. Check your own bank’s procedure before you lower it
• ✓When you are about to send money to a new recipient, close the screen once. Fraud needs "right now". Refusing to be hurried is, in practice, the defence
• ✓Before you execute a transfer, tell a family member or a friend: I am about to send X yen to Y. You are asking someone to play the part the bank clerk used to play
• ✓"Your tax or insurance refund is waiting", "your account will be frozen", "your account is being used for crime" — do not decide based on what the caller says. Look up the official number yourself and call that
• ✓Turn on transfer notifications by email or push. Your statement will show it eventually, but a notification helps you notice sooner
• ✓If you have already sent the money, call the bank first and ask about recall. Then report it to the police. The sooner you act, the better the chance of stopping it

Who was cleared: collectors are the largest group

First-half clearances rose to 3,821 cases (+20.3%) and 1,381 persons cleared (+21.6%). By role, the largest group is the 730 collectors, 52.9% of the persons cleared, while group leaders and ringleaders come to 78 people, 5.6% of the total.
Be careful with the word. "Cleared" means the police handled it as a case, counted in cases and in persons. It does not mean arrested, and it does not mean charged or convicted. Do not collapse those three when reading a headline figure.

Three lines to pass on

• ▸The exit route for fraud money has moved from cash machines and counters to online banking. 72.2% of the money lost through victim-made transfers now leaves that way (NPA, first half of 2026)
• ▸Today’s action is to lower the daily transfer limit on your online banking. But how you raise it again, and how long that takes, differs between banks and can run to days — check your own bank first
• ▸Do not comply with anyone who tells you to transfer money right now. In Japan, the police advice line is #9110, and for payment or contract trouble the consumer hotline is 188

Where to get help

For non-emergency questions in Japan, the police advice line is #9110. You can use it to ask whether something amounts to a crime at all. Each prefectural police force also runs a cybercrime consultation desk.
For trouble over a payment or a contract, the consumer hotline is 188, which connects you to your nearest consumer affairs centre.
If the money has already gone, call the bank first. Freezing an account and recalling a transfer are the bank’s procedures. These are Japanese services; readers elsewhere should use their own national equivalents.

Sources