Strange story: Gangsters in Japan hardly have the opportunity to use smartphones even though they are not short of money

This becomes even more urgent when three major telecommunications companies in Japan, Au, SoftBank and DoCoMo, are in the process of eliminating 3G services. Phones can be replaced but the problem is that yakuza cannot upgrade to 4G sim.

The reason is that the 'Organized Crime Elimination Ordinance' (Boryokudan Haijo Jorei) was passed by prefectural governments across Japan, prohibiting telecommunications companies from doing business with individuals of yakuza.

Therefore, to avoid liability in case the customer turns out to be a criminal, mobile phone service providers, when entering into contracts with users, require them to commit that they are not criminals. members of gangs.

So why don't the yakuza use tricks to cheat on contracts? The reason is because the police always closely monitor high-ranking yakuza figures and always find any reason to arrest them. And with just a simple case like contract fraud, the police will be able to conduct an investigation into their business activities.

Yakuza also cannot ask someone else to be on the contract because that also constitutes fraud and leads to the same result.

In 2017, Kunio Inoue, leader of Japan's largest yakuza organization Kobe Yamaguchi-Gumi, plotted with a female accomplice to get a new phone. He was then arrested for fraud. The charges themselves were not too important, but the police had an excuse to search the gang's headquarters and investigate other members.

In 2018, a 46-year-old yakuza member signed a mobile service contract, which included a clause stating that he was not a member of a criminal gang. In 2020, he was arrested by Hokkaido Provincial Police on charges of fraud.

That's why yakuza members who signed contracts with carriers before 2011 will often only use feature phones. As for young members, if they sign a contract before joining a specific gang, they can still use smartphones.

Kareem Winters

Update 18 July 2024