TOKYO, June 29 — Japan’s new police chief doesn’t patrol the streets, doesn’t own a firearm, and doesn’t exist in the real world.
Instead, she appears on YouTube with the face and voice of a young woman, calmly explaining why someone claiming to be a police officer on a video call is almost certainly trying to steal your money.
Her name is AIko. She is the Osaka Prefectural Police’s latest weapon against a fraud epidemic that saw more than US$2 billion (RM8 billion) in records stolen from victims last year. Authorities say the crisis is increasingly fueled by social media and sophisticated criminal networks operating across Southeast Asia.
AIko’s name, announced in late May, is a combination of the abbreviation for artificial intelligence and the suffix “ko,” which is often used in Japanese female names. The virtual police chief is the star of a series of crime prevention videos aimed at young internet users who are difficult to reach with traditional awareness campaigns.
According to Kyodo News, AIko takes viewers through real conversations between scammers and victims and warns about increasingly common schemes involving scammers posing as police officers, celebrity investors, and even romantic partners.
In a video titled “Chief AIko’s Crime Prevention Classroom,” she bluntly warns that “police officers do not provide identification or arrest warrants online.”
This message reflects how dramatically Japan’s fraud landscape has evolved.
Preliminary police data cites while older people remain frequently targeted. South China Morning Post Almost half of Osaka’s scam victims last year were under 65, highlighting how online scams are not just a problem for retirees, but are a problem for all age groups.
The man behind the avatar is Toshinori Hirano, a visiting professor at the Kagawa University Cyber Security Center who advised the Osaka Police Department before creating AIko.
He told Kyodo News that he hopes virtual police officers will “utilize technology to raise awareness of crime prevention.”
The campaign comes as Japan faces an increasingly sophisticated fraud ecosystem. According to NHK, investment scams, romance scams and other credit scams frequently begin on social media before moving to encrypted messaging platforms, with victims losing more than US$2 billion in records last year.
Police say many victims have been tricked by criminals impersonating law enforcement officers during video calls and provided with fake identification and forged arrest warrants.
Investigators believe many of the syndicates behind these operations are based in fraudulent facilities in mainland Southeast Asia, particularly in the border areas of Myanmar and Cambodia, where organized crime groups have built industrial-scale fraud operations targeting victims across Asia.
In response, Japan is strengthening its international cooperation. According to NHK, Tsuyoshi Ohama, director of the National Police Agency’s Organized Crime Control Bureau, met last week with Cambodian National Police Deputy Commissioner Di Vichea and others to discuss a coordinated crackdown on fraudulent organizations operating in Cambodia.
The two countries also discussed efforts to search and rescue dozens of Japanese nationals believed to be missing in Cambodia. NHK reported that more than 30 Japanese people have been arrested on suspicion of participating in fraudulent activities across Southeast Asia in the first five months of this year, and Japan’s National Police Agency has deployed liaison officers across the region.
AIko’s debut comes as Japan accelerates the use of artificial intelligence across the government.
of Japan Times The Government Digital Agency reported that it plans to roll out Gennai, a secure generative AI platform, for approximately 180,000 civil servants across 39 government agencies following an extensive pilot program. The platform is designed to help draft official documents, transcribe meetings, translate documents, conduct legal research, and prepare parliamentary responses within a closed government network.
Digital Minister Hisashi Matsumoto said he would use the platform himself to draft parliamentary responses, and Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called on civil servants to embrace reliable AI to help Japan catch up with world leaders in technology.
