New issues have surfaced with Japan's My Number national ID system, with many of the numbers having been linked to the bank accounts of family members instead of the rightful holders.
The Digital Agency inspected the roughly 54 million My Number IDs linked to bank accounts for receiving pension payouts and other benefits.
Agency officials confirmed about 130,000 cases in which an individual's My Number ID was linked to a family member's bank account.
They also found 748 cases in which bank accounts appear to have been erroneously linked to a stranger's ID.
Under the current system, there is no way to verify the name associated with a My Number ID against the name of the corresponding bank account holder.
The Digital Agency plans to fix the system when revised legislation on the My Number ID system is enacted by June 2025.
In the meantime, the agency is considering developing by year-end a new system that can match the names in kanji characters on My Number IDs with the kana characters, used to read the names, associated with bank accounts.
As for the bank accounts that appear to have been linked to a stranger's ID, the agency says it will take measures within a day or two to ensure that the bank account information is no longer accessible from the My Number portal website.
Digital Transformation Minister Kono Taro on Wednesday apologized for the latest issues and asked that those who registered bank accounts incorrectly promptly make the necessary changes.
The Digital Agency inspected the roughly 54 million My Number IDs linked to bank accounts for receiving pension payouts and other benefits.
Agency officials confirmed about 130,000 cases in which an individual's My Number ID was linked to a family member's bank account.
They also found 748 cases in which bank accounts appear to have been erroneously linked to a stranger's ID.
Under the current system, there is no way to verify the name associated with a My Number ID against the name of the corresponding bank account holder.
The Digital Agency plans to fix the system when revised legislation on the My Number ID system is enacted by June 2025.
In the meantime, the agency is considering developing by year-end a new system that can match the names in kanji characters on My Number IDs with the kana characters, used to read the names, associated with bank accounts.
As for the bank accounts that appear to have been linked to a stranger's ID, the agency says it will take measures within a day or two to ensure that the bank account information is no longer accessible from the My Number portal website.
Digital Transformation Minister Kono Taro on Wednesday apologized for the latest issues and asked that those who registered bank accounts incorrectly promptly make the necessary changes.
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Summary
Japan's My Number national ID system has errors, with many numbers linked to incorrect bank accounts. The Digital Agency found about 130,000 cases of mislinked individual IDs and 748 instances of erroneous connections to strangers' accounts. The current system lacks a name-verification feature.
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ID: 9a9ac9b4-7942-42c1-8a01-4d3f47ef31e5
Category ID: nhk
URL: https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20230607_32/
Date: June 7, 2023
Created: 2023/06/08 07:33
Updated: 2025/12/09 03:11
Last Read: 2023/06/08 07:41