Rise of Spot Work Schemes Leading to Scams in Japan

   Tokyo, Oct. 6 (Jiji Press)--The growing popularity in Japan of "spot work" staffing arrangements, which enable people to work short hours such as during their free time and be paid the same day, has led to an increase in schemes defrauding operators of related platforms.
   Industry members are worried that the type of scam, in which operators of platform apps pay wages to spot workers initially on behalf of their employers but cannot collect the money later from the businesses, may spread.
   According to the Japan Spot Work Association, an organization of platform operators, the total number of people registered with its four main member firms and Mercari Hallo, a new service launched by flea market app operator Mercari Inc. in March, stood at around 25 million people as of last month.
   The platform operators pay salaries to workers on the day of work on behalf of businesses, and collect the amount plus commission from the employers at the end of each month.
   In the scam, people pretending to be employers post fake job openings, and conspirators apply for the jobs and submit false work records to platform operators to receive salary payments. Several such cases have been found since late last year.

(2024/10/06-12:25)

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