【IMPORTANT】Please be careful of suspicious phone calls and emails claiming to be from immigration authorities.
Immigration
for international students
公開日: 2025-11-17
We are contacting you regarding a notice from the Immigration Services Agency.
Please read the following notice from the Immigration Services Agency carefully.
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Suspicious phone calls or emails claiming to be from the Immigration Services Agency
or a Regional Immigration Bureau.
We have received many inquiries regarding this matter.
Officials from the Immigration Services Agency and Regional Immigration Bureaus,
we will never ask for money over the phone or email.
So please be careful.
If you suspect you have been victimized, please contact the police or your local consumer affairs center.
・Police (Police consultation hotline) #9110
・Consumer Affairs Center (Consumer Hotline) 188
＜Precautions to avoid becoming a victim＞
・Please do not respond to any calls that you do not recognize.
・Immigration authorities will never call you using an overseas phone number
that begins with a "+" (plus).
・Please be aware that real phone numbers and email addresses may be disguised,
so please be sure to check the person's affiliation, department, etc.
・For the latest information on special frauds, please visit the National Police Agency website
below. You can check it.
●Cases of inquiries received so far> (Last updated: September 19, 2025)
＜Suspicious Phone Calls＞
・A person claiming to be an immigration official told me, "You have traveled abroad
between ____/____ and ____/____, and there is a possibility that your passport
may have been used fraudulently," and asked for personal information such as your
date of birth and address.
・An automated voice message said things like, "Important documents are being stored
here," "Documents are missing," and "Expiring," and then instructed me to press a number.
A foreign acquaintance of mine was held up at immigration at the airport and asked me
to transfer the immigration fee.
・A foreign acquaintance of mine was denied entry at the airport and was being held
in an immigration detention center, and I was asked to post bail.
・I received a phone call in Chinese and broken Japanese saying, "Your passport,
visa, and residence card were fraudulently used or forged in Shanghai, so you will not
be able to enter or leave the country. Please come to the immigration office
with your passport, bankbook, and proof of identity."
・The call was made by an immigration official, someone claiming to be a Chinese police
officer, who spoke in Japanese (with a Chinese speaker taking over during the call)
who told me, "We have found an abnormality in your passport, so we have decided to detain
and take you into custody," and asked me to pay bail.
・An announcement in Chinese said, "There is an abnormality with your residence card,
so it will be invalid. Please contact the reception center immediately. Please press ○ number
to inquire about the cause of the expiration."
<Suspicipus Email>
・I received an email stating that I was being asked to submit documents proving my assets
for a surprise inspection in accordance with the law, and that if I did not comply,
my residence status would be revoked and I would be deported.
・I received an email stating that if I did not update my visa information, I would have to pay
a fine of 2 million yen.
<Suspicious Documents>
・A letter was sent to the Chinese restaurant informing them of the upcoming
on-site investigation.
・A document entitled "Request for Cooperation" was sent calling on businesses to provide
personal information (such as addresses and bank accounts) of actual foreign national,
under the pretext of stricter verification of residence status following amendments
to the Immigration Control Act.
◆For more information, please check the website below.
