Today I was walking through Tokyo Station when a plain clothed man approached me and flashed me a Police badge and ID. I continued walking as he kept pace with me. He kept saying “I’m real police.” I said “No thank you no thank you.” I walked toward the Information kiosk and asked the woman there for help. I asked her if this was a real police officer. She looked at him. He paused, kind of reluctantly then said something to her in Japanese. She smiled, looked at me and nodded. He said I had to show him my passport. I took out my passport and showed him the ID page. He kept saying show it to me and trying to touch it. I said “I show it to you but I don’t give it to you.” He then asked to see my entry stamp so I flipped the pages and he looked at the dates. He then held out his phone and looked to be tapping the screen. I leaned my head toward him to see what he was doing and the screen was just on google maps. He was just tapping nonsense. He then said “Everything ok.” and walked away.
Later in the day, I met up a local and we talked to two police officers. I told them the story through my Japanese friend. One of the officers pulled out his ID and badge and asked me if it looked the same. It clearly did not. They told me they can’t confirm what I experienced but they did say some police officers dress in plain clothes and not uniforms.
My friend asked me if the guy took a photo of my passport with his phone? I’m pretty sure he didn’t.
What the heck happened?
6 comments
Definitely not an officer. No one goes out and says “I’m a real police officer” if they actually are.
Was he wearing glasses by chance? He could’ve had a camera in his glasses possibly. If not, than I believe you’re fine and luckily he didn’t get more from you. He’s a scammer of some sort.
If you ever suspect someone of being a fake officer and stopping you, kindly ask to go with them to the nearest koban (police box) for questioning and privacy. A real officer would not hesitate to lead the way.
Hm, I was controlled once. But to my memory it was clearly a police officer. I gave him my passport, he looked it through and then said, that everything is alright and left.
So if the guy you met wasn‘t a police officer, would he have run of with your passport? Dont see what his intention could have been, if he was fake. I wonder also about the lady in the shop…
I’m learning the word for scammer before I go.
I’m pretty hard to scam in general but my patience is thin and you can tell by facial reactions when someone is lying to you.
Sagieee Shi
詐欺師
Sagi-shi
Oh goodie, new international travel fear unlocked
At least I’ll have given some thought to (read as: obsessed over) what to do in the event that something like this happens during our travels.
Dont know about this guy, but officers across Japan can and will ask foreigners for their passports. You’re supposed to have it on hand at all times by law.