Other Information

July 4, 2017

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has recently discovered a number of fraudulent emails that have been subtly disguised to appear to be sent from senior MOFA officials and from MOFA email addresses (sometimes even from seemingly official addresses with the @mofa.go.jp domain). The emails contain seemingly believable information about the latest international affairs, etc., and supposed investment opportunities.

If you receive an email that appears to be from a MOFA official, but its sender or content are unfamiliar to you or it otherwise feels in any way suspicious (especially if it is sent from a free email service provider, the Japanese is not quite right, or if you are asked to reply to a different email address, etc.), please do not open any of the attachments or links it may contain, and delete the email without replying.

If you are unsure whether or not the email you have received is fraudulent, please contact the MOFA official in question or the Information and Communications Division through means other than email, such as by telephone.

MOFA is taking the necessary precautions in terms of information security measures, such as setting up email servers that do not use third-party relay (relaying emails via an unrelated third-party to hide the sender), taking anti-virus measures so as not to send emails with viruses, and strengthening monitoring, and we will continue to enhance our information security measures.

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