Fake credit cards that were seized at Kansai International Airport are seen on June 16, 2017. (Mainichi)

Japan has seen a recent spate of fraud incidents in which people from Malaysia posing as tourists illegally purchase luxury items with fake credit cards.

It is thought that the combination of Japan's welcoming approach to tourists and its relatively slow crackdown on forgery have made it a target for certain Chinese-related crime organizations. It seems that criminals are increasingly entering the country pretending to be tourists, purchasing items in airports with fake credit cards, and then hastily returning home to avoid being caught.

In June, a 20-year-old Malaysian woman of Chinese descent and a 19-year-old male were arrested at Kansai International Airport on suspicion of bringing fake credit cards into Japan, according to a source close to the investigation. It is understood that the two suspects were given a stuffed toy outside Kuala Lumpur International Airport by a male accomplice, inside which there were 16 fake credit cards that had the two travelers' names written on them.

The pair deliberately chose to go to Japan via South Korea, in order to avoid the stringent baggage checks that are in place for people flying directly into Japan from Malaysia. Upon landing in Japan, the two suspects stayed inside the airport and set about purchasing luxury Gucci watches and Louis Vuitton bags in a duty free shopping area, with the intention of taking them back to Malaysia.

Apparently, they were only supposed to stay in the country for 25 hours, according to the plan that had been laid down by the crime group in their native country. Commenting on episodes such as these, a source close to the investigation explains, "These 'hit and run' style cases, in which suspects escape from the country after quick illegal purchases are becoming more common."

Since 2016, police have arrested approximately 70 Malaysian men and women on suspicion of bringing over and using fake credit cards in Japan. The total financial damage has risen to 73 million yen (about $670,000). It is understood that the relevant crime groups have switched their bases from China to Malaysia, in order to evade police investigations within China.

"Japan! Tour and accommodation free." This was one of the adverts that a crime group posted online in order to entice people into taking fake credit cards to Japan. Desperate, vulnerable debt-ridden youngsters responded to the advert, entering an arrangement under which they received a roughly 10 percent cut of the money paid by the crime group for the illegally purchased goods.

In another case, locations linked to a 48-year-old Chinese man were searched by Osaka Prefectural Police in March on suspicion of storage of illegally purchased products. In total, 31 items such as wallets and bags valued at about 7.2 million yen in total were seized from the locations. It transpired that the goods had been bought by a 25-year-old male painter who was arrested for attempting to bring in 30 fake credit cards at Kansai International Airport, during a previous two-day visit to Japan.

There have also been cases of people coming to Japan frequently during a short period. One arrested male-female pair had apparently been instructed to "use up to five cards per shop, spend 2 million yen each time, and go up to the limit of each card."

Overall, it seems that crime groups are exploiting the fact that Japan is experiencing an increase in inbound tourism. It means that they can organize large-scale illegal "shopping sprees," while pretending to be tourists here on short-stay visits, remaining relatively inconspicuous among the crowds.

Another reason for focusing on Japan surfaced in a Chinese message that was found on a confiscated smartphone of a person believed to belong to one of the crime gangs: "In Japan, cards without IC chips can still be used. So we should quickly make money (before the system changes)."

According to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Japan Credit Card Association, credit card information can be saved either on a magnetic or an IC chip. Payments using IC chip credit cards, which are harder to use illicitly, started to become widespread in the 1990s, and the percentage of IC chip payments in Europe has risen to 99 percent (between December 2016 and February 2017). In the U.S., the figure climbed to 47 percent during the same period, having previously been about 10 percent. However, in Japan, IC chip payments accounted for just 17 percent of the total during this period -- the lowest rate among developed countries.

One of the reasons for this trend in Japan is thought to be stores' reluctance to cover the cost of IC chip terminals. In addition, credit card companies issue cards that have both the IC chip and electromagnetic strip incorporated into one card, in order to maximize the number of stores where the card can be used. Also, if an old style credit card is used illegally, the credit card company pays out compensation, which also explains the hesitation to switch to IC chip cards.

Under the Installment Sales Act that was amended in 2016, stores are required to switch to IC chip terminals. However, there are no punishments if stores decide not to make the change.

As a senior investigator in this field points out, "It is essential that stores change their way of thinking. They need to open their eyes to the fact that illegal purchasers are targeting Japan under the cover of the inbound tourism boom."