MEMBERSHIP of Japan’s yakuza criminal underworld hit a new low of 18,800 in 2024 after years of decline, falling below the 20,000 mark for the first time, the latest police data showed.
Yakuza forces have been dwindling since 2005, due in part to a stricter crackdown by law enforcement.
Despite that decline, “some of their activities are becoming more and more opaque, with their sources of funding diversifying”, Japan’s National Police Agency warned in a report published on Thursday.
“The fact remains unchanged that yakuza is a threat to our society.”
It was not immediately clear how police compiled the yakuza membership data.
However, one example of that growing murkiness was a link to anonymous criminal groups increasingly held responsible for offences such as online scams and investment fraud.
Collectively dubbed “tokuryu”, such groups are notable for their recruitment through social media platforms, often of young people who are desperate to make quick money.
Some yakuza members have been found to be the ringleaders of such emerging criminal organisations, whose profits can then flow to the yakuza, police said.
Police records showed that the total amount of damage linked to organised fraud and other crimes traceable to tokuryu reached ¥263bil (US$1.8bil) last year, compared with ¥62bil in 2019. — AFP
