A man looks at his phone in front of a shop in Tokyo's Shinjuku district on Jan 30, 2024. (PHOTO / AFP)

TOKYO - The amount of money stolen in investment scams perpetrated via social media and online romance scams in Japan totaled 45.52 billion yen (about $308 million) in 2023, police data showed on Thursday.

In 2023, damages from investment frauds using Facebook, Instagram and other social media means amounted to 27.79 billion yen in 2,271 cases reported to police, while damages from online romance scams in which criminals adopt fake identities to pose as romantic partners to swindle money totaled 17.73 billion yen in 1,575 cases, according to the National Police Agency (NPA).

Over half of the victims of both romance scams and investment scams via social media were either men in their 50s to 60s or women in their 40s to 50s

The total amount was higher than 44.12 billion yen stolen in telecom fraud cases including phone scams and cyber fraud, the NPA said.

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Among the victims of the romance scams, 72.4 percent were induced to invest in order to continue the relationship, the agency said.

Over half of the victims of both romance scams and investment scams via social media were either men in their 50s to 60s or women in their 40s to 50s, it added.

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The NPA has notified prefectural police across the country to strengthen countermeasures and increase sharing of information to prevent more cases.