THE Japanese have a reputation as a shrewd, ultra-modern society.

But an increasing number of them are being duped with some pretty old-fashioned confidence games - transferring decent chunks of money to overseas bank accounts in the hope of huge rewards.

The victims aren't gullible old grannies either: Many are medium-sized and small businesses, reported the Mainichi Daily News.

As economic conditions worsen, it has been suggested that businesses feeling the pinch are drawn to the conmen's lucrative-sounding terms.

The problem is so serious that Japan's Foreign Ministry has put information on its website to make people aware of an "advance-fee" fraud, also known as the 419 fraud or the Nigerian scam.

The number 419 refers to the section of the Nigerian Criminal Code dealing with fraud, and reflects the fact that such scams first started in Nigeria in the 1980s.

An investigation by the Japan External Trade Organisation unearthed 177 such cases last year, but a record 264 cases in just the first nine months of this year.

A specialist Dutch agency also found that 419-scam losses relating to Japan last year amounted to 27billion yen (S$391 million) - the third-highest amount in the world in that year. The United States and Britain led the list.

According to Japan's Foreign Ministry, the scam usually involves an e-mail message or letter being sent to targets offering the opportunity of a large payoff.

The scammer might ask for permission to transfer "secret" funds to the victim's bank account - then trick the victim into remitting advance payments, to cover invented administrative or other expenses, to a designated account.

A Tokyo trading-company employee, however, was ensnared by a South African variation of the scam last month: The scammer claimed to be a senior civil servant and persuaded the victim to send a commission for tendering a contract bid.

The employee was then lured to South Africa on the pretence of holding business talks, but was kidnapped. A ransom was demanded but he was eventually rescued.

"With methods becoming increasingly ingenious, people should take due caution," an official of the Foreign Ministry's Consular Affairs Bureau warned.

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