In order to strengthen measures against special fraud such as remittance fraud, NTT will provide a service that displays the number of the person who has called the elderly free of charge from May.
According to announcements by NTT East Japan and West Japan, "Number Display" that displays the phone number of the person who called the caller and "Number Request" that automatically responds by voice to the person who made the call without notification and ask them to call back are provided free of charge.
Until now, additional services for fixed-line phones were offered at 440 yen and 220 yen per month, respectively, but from May onwards, it will be provided free of charge if a household with a person over the age of 5 applies for it.
In addition, the "Special Fraud Countermeasure Service," in which AI analyzes the contents of recorded calls and notifies the person and his or her family if there is a suspicion of fraud, will be provided free of charge to 70,5 people from May to the end of March 2025.
According to the National Police Agency, the number of cases of special fraud in one year last year was 3,1, exceeding the previous year for the second consecutive year, and the amount of damage reached 1.1 billion yen.
Ryota Kitamura, Vice President of NTT East Japan, said, "It is extremely unfortunate that fixed-line phones are being used for special scams, and we will continue to strengthen our countermeasures in cooperation with the police and local governments."