Japanese police say there has recently been a spate of cases of suspicious calls in which the caller ID displays the telephone numbers of police stations. The calls are suspected to be scams and other criminal activities.



Tokyo police say they have been receiving inquiries from citizens since March 11, about suspicious calls in which the caller ID displays the main number of the Shinjuku police station. The police say they have received about 650 such inquiries during the past week.



Suspicious calls appearing to come from Shinjuku police have also been confirmed outside of Tokyo. Callers reportedly claim to be police officers and attempt to stir up anxiety by telling people that they are suspected of being involved in criminal activities.



The Aichi prefectural police headquarters in central Japan say a man in his 40s and a woman in her 30s, both residents of Nagoya City, separately received calls in which the caller ID displayed the number of the prefectural police headquarters. Both were reportedly told they were suspected of being involved in money laundering, and they were swindled out of cash.



Scam groups are known to be using the phone numbers of police and other organizations. In many cases, the caller ID included a plus sign and a country code, making it easier to identify the calls as fraudulent.



But in recent cases, it is difficult to tell whether the calls are fake because they don't have such characteristics.



Police are calling on people to confirm the callers' names, the sections they belong to and their extension number when they receive calls claiming to be from police.



They advise people to hang up and consult family members and acquaintances or seek help from local police.