Number of child porn cases hit record high 2,000 cases in Japan, as cybercrimes increase in 2018

Some 2,000 cybercrime cases involved prostitution and child pornography, while cryptocurrency hacking resulted in the loss of US$610 million last year

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The rise in cybercrimes in Japan is “serious”, say Japanese police. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 8:19am, 8 Mar 2019Updated: 8:19am, 8 Mar 2019

The number of cybercrimes committed in Japan last year, including many cases of child pornography and fraud, stood at 9,040 – hitting a record high for the third consecutive year, said police.

The figure marked an increase of more than 1,000 from 2014, with an official from the National Police Agency saying the situation “remains serious”.

Total cryptocurrency losses due to hacking amounted to about 67.7 billion yen (US$610 million) last year, including around 58 billion yen worth of NEM digital currency stolen from a Tokyo-based bourse operator Coincheck in January.

Police confirmed 169 cases of hacking targeting cryptocurrency in 2018, up 20 from the previous year. All remain unsolved.

Staff of cryptocurrency exchange Coincheck bow in apology after some US$534 million of the NEM cryptocurrency disappeared due to hacking. Photo: Kyodo

Among the 9,040 cybercrimes, the highest number of 2,057 concerned child prostitution and child pornography, followed by 972 cases of fraud and 926 related to juveniles, such as sexual misconduct involving minors under age 18 or younger through online dating.