"Hello, I'm a police officer from Osaka. Your son has caused a car accident which was quite grave and which killed a child," said the voice from the other end of the phone line.
I couldn't believe it. What? My beloved son has killed somebody? I was in a terrible panic. I could hear somebody crying on the other end. Could it be my son?
"The child's parents are demanding some consolation money. We did all we could, but the amount of money was too much," said the voice.
"What do I have to do?" I said in a hurry. I couldn't stop my tears, which were running down my cheeks. I was so shocked.
"Go to Osaka Bank and transfer five million yen into the following account by three o'clock. I'm so sorry to have to tell you this".
When the account information was related to me, the conversation ended. As soon as I hung up the phone I rushed to the bank and transferred five million yen to the assigned account.
That night I rang my son to see if he was all right. He picked up the phone.
"Hello," said my son. He sounded all right, but maybe he had a wounded heart because he had killed someone.
"Hi! It's Mum. Are you all right? I know you're not, but I hope you'll soon recover. Did you get hurt?"
"What on earth are you talking about? I was at home all day today, watching the soccer!" he said. Then I realized I'd been cheated.

There are many people today who suffer from phone and Internet crime. The vicious method above is called "Ore Ore Sagi."(A trick in which someone phones you up pretending they are a relative and charges money from you). The number of cases is increasing every year. At the moment, there are about 6,504 cases per year. The damage is also increasing and it has gone up to ¥4,318,268,642. The top three speeches that the criminal uses are demands for car accidents, loans and abortions. The relationship between these three is that of course they will need a lot of money to "take care of".

I have not heard only bad news, however. I hear that some people haven't had to pay. One time a bank clerk found a lady in a gloomy mood. So he asked what happened to her, and the lady told him what happened to her son/daughter. When the clerk asked the lady whether she had confirmed the story. Those words saved her from paying a large amount of money.

Nowadays, we cannot live without phones and the Internet, as they are so convenient in our daily lives. But they can be very dangerous things that might lead to death. For example, dating sites are a big problem. The problem is that a lot of murders have happened, especially of young people. Of course, again not all stories are bad. Some people might meet a very nice person through a dating site and get married.

I think this problem is particularly common in Japan. In Japan if you live normally in this society, there isn't much chance of encounters between a man and a woman. At most they can meet only at school or in the workplace, and unless you approach actively, you can't have a lover. If the other refuses the approach, then both people will feel awkward. However in western countries, speaking to a woman is thought of as etiquette. They also hold home parties often, so comparatively, encounters between men and women are a lot more than in Japan.

According to a book I've read, there was a girl who was using a dating site and she became acquainted with a man. They met a few times, but the girl rejected to be in close association with this man. So the man started stalking her. I don't understand why people stalk others or harass people.

Like I've said above, you can easily be deceived using the Internet and the phone. They are convenient, but dangerous. They are not always dangerous, but crime can easily happen. I have never been damaged, but recently I hear and see a lot of incidents in the news. There are many young people who are suffering from Internet crime. I become very sad whenever I hear of a victim who is the same generation as I am. I wish that the number of cases of phone and Internet crime will decrease gradually, and people who use them will feel that a danger is always right beside them.


Child Research Net would like to thank the Doshisha International Junior/Senior High School and Minami Maeda, student and author, for permitting reproduction of this article on the CRN web site.