Japan banks block withdrawals from expired foreign resident accounts

Some Japanese banks have begun blocking withdrawals from accounts held by foreigners whose period of stay has expired, the Financial Services Agency said Tuesday, amid a rise in the exploitation of such accounts by fraudsters.The National Police Agency in December called on all financial institutions to introduce the measure after seeing some foreign residents' accounts being unlawfully sold and used in so-called "special fraud" cases, in which criminals impersonate relatives and officials to swindle victims.While the FSA did not specify which banks had started the measure, Kyodo News has s…READ FULL ARTICLE