As the government began handing out questionnaires on Sept. 20 for the census survey conducted every five years, the National Consumers Affairs Center has been asking citizens to be on the alert for people impersonating government census workers who ask for personal information.
The government census aims to cover everyone living in Japan, regardless of nationality, in order to compile up-to-date statistics on the country¡¯s population and household profiles. People are obligated to respond either by accessing the response website, submitting the paper questionnaire by mail or handing it directly to a census taker by Oct. 8.
In September 2020, the last time the survey was conducted, a woman in her 40s consulted the center after someone claiming to be a census taker visited her home and asked over the intercom about her family members and their incomes.
Two months later, another woman told the center that a man claiming to be a local government official gave her a number-withheld call and asked the names of her family members and the companies they work for, saying some information was missing in her response to the survey.
Earlier this year, a different person informed the center after receiving a call on their home phone, saying that the phone would become unusable in two hours unless the person answers census questions by inputting specific numbers through the buttons on the phone.
While the government doesn¡¯t send emails asking people to respond to the questionnaire, many people have received suspicious emails claiming they are related to the census.
According to the internal affairs ministry, such emails say respondents will be given a gift and come with a URL that will lead to a malicious website once clicked.
Census takers carry an ID and a designated tote bag when visiting homes to hand out and collect survey documents, and while there are cases in which they ask the name of the head of the household or the number of questionnaires needed, they never ask questions about incomes or assets.
The center is urging people to stop any related conversation if they feel anything suspicious and consult the local government, the center or police.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.