Crime rife at Net cafes that don't require ID

Crime rife at Net cafes that don't require ID
The Yomiuri Shimbun

Tokyo police are considering making it mandatory for Net cafe operators to ask customers to show identification after a survey found nearly 75 percent of crimes committed at cybercafes occurred at shops that did not check the ID of customers.

Fewer than 40 percent of Net cafes in the capital ask their customers to show ID, according to a Metropolitan Police Department survey of 561 Net cafes known to be operating in Tokyo as of the end of August.

The MPD launched an expert advisory panel Saturday to consider measures to stem the crimes--including theft, hacking and rape--occurring in Net cafes. One step the panel will discuss is making it obligatory for Net cafes to confirm the identification of their customers, according to the MPD.

Just 214 of the Net cafes surveyed, or 38.1 percent, asked customers to show ID when entering their premises.

There were 679 crimes reported in Tokyo's Net cafes from January to the end of August. Of them, 505, or 74 percent, took place at Net cafes that did not check customer ID.

Thefts of bags and other possessions topped the list with 579 incidents, followed by 67 cases of fraud and seven robberies with violence.

A youth arrested by police on suspicion of stealing items from private booths late at night reportedly told police that the Net cafes were easy targets. "The booths have no locks and many people leave their booths unattended," he reportedly said.

Since around 2006, cases of using computers at Net cafes for unlawful purposes such as hacking and purchasing illegal drugs online have been steadily increasing, investigators said.

Even rapes have been reported at Net cafes. A 28-year-old part-time worker arrested on suspicion of indecently assaulting a young girl in a booth for couples at a Net cafe reportedly told police that the booth had a mattress and "could not be seen from the outside."

Girls who have run away from home have been found using computers at Net cafes to trawl for people willing to pay them for sex, the MPD said.

Billing fraud gangs have stationed members charged with withdrawing money from victims' accounts at Net cafes.

The MPD has been urging Net cafe operators since 2007 to verify the identity of their customers with ID bearing a photograph and keep computer records.

Compliance with the MPD requests, however, has been left to discretion of the cafes, and no penalties are slapped on cafes that fail to comply.

Just 38.1 percent of Net cafes complied with the MPD request in the latest survey, edging down from 40.6 percent in a survey a year before, and only 13.9 percent stored computer usage records, down from 24.6 percent a year earlier, the MPD noted.

Some Net cafes reportedly told MPD officers that they stopped asking customers to show ID because many cafe users disliked the practice.

The Japan Complex Cafe Association, a nationwide federation of 1,263 Net cafe operators, plans to ask its members to tighten their checks of customers.

"We'll boost efforts to confirm cafe users' identification because doing so would bring in more users if they know they can enter and feel safe," an association official said.

(Oct. 19, 2009)