National Police Agency to Receive Fraud Data from Mercari, LY and Rakuten under New Agreement

The National Police Agency signed an agreement on July 9 with Mercari, LY and Rakuten to share information aimed at preventing fraudulent transactions on their e-commerce platforms. Under the pact the agency will receive and analyze data on credit cards used fraudulently and on accounts of malicious merchants.

Analysis results will be returned to the three companies to limit further losses and will also support police investigations.

The agreement applies to all e-commerce services offered by the firms, including online shopping and auction sites. The operators will supply details on accounts, credit cards and shipping addresses when they detect fraud through merchant reports or customer complaints about undelivered items.

The agency will cross-check the data against its existing records and identify patterns of fraudulent activity spanning multiple services.

It will forward information to the companies when it assesses a high risk of spreading damage, such as cases where multiple problematic buyers share the same shipping address or a single buyer makes large-scale purchases. The companies can use the shared details to alert users, suspend accounts and block product deliveries.

The agency also intends to supply data on products frequently targeted because of high liquidity and on common scam methods.

Information will be distributed to prefectural police departments nationwide to aid their inquiries. Credit card fraud, including cases involving stolen numbers, produces annual losses exceeding ¥50 billion, an NPA official said. “We want to curb damage by using the pact to share information swiftly and develop countermeasures,” the official said.