TOKYO; Japanese police have arrested an unemployed Chinese national living in Tokyo on suspicion of operating an unauthorised mobile phone base station in the city's upmarket Ginza shopping district.
The suspect allegedly operated the fake base station in violation of Japan's Radio Law. The Metropolitan Police Department said it was rare for authorities to uncover such an operation.
According to police, the suspect allegedly operated the unauthorised radio station at around 3.30pm on Saturday by transmitting radio signals from equipment installed in a vehicle parked on a street in Ginza, in Tokyo's Chuo Ward, without permission from the Internal Affairs and Communications Minister.
Officers conducting surveillance in the area apprehended the suspect inside the vehicle, which was equipped with radio transmission devices.
The suspect has denied the allegations, telling investigators: "I don't know anything about it."
The interfering radio signals transmitted from the fake base station caused more than 10,000 smartphones in the surrounding area to lose cellular service for about an hour.
Police suspect the operation was intended to send phishing messages to smartphones belonging to Chinese tourists shopping in the district.
In December 2024, NTT Docomo Inc received complaints from smartphone users who said they had suddenly lost cellular service while walking in Ginza, Shinjuku and other parts of Tokyo.
An on-site investigation conducted by Docomo and the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry in January 2025 determined that the disruptions had been caused by interfering radio signals, prompting the Metropolitan Police Department to launch an investigation.
According to police, the fake base station transmitted signals using the same frequency bands as legitimate mobile phone base stations.
Chinese tourists and others received text messages in Chinese claiming, for example, that their credit card payments had been temporarily suspended. The messages directed recipients to fraudulent websites designed to steal personal and financial information.
From January 2025 to October 2026, the Metropolitan Police Department received complaints from 18 people, including Chinese tourists, about radio interference in Tokyo's busy commercial districts.
Financial losses linked to the scams totalled approximately 4 million yen, police said.
Investigators believe the suspect had been operating fake mobile phone base stations intermittently in Tokyo's major shopping and entertainment districts. - Japan News/ANN
