Overview

• Osaka Prefectural Police re-arrested Nguyen Van Thai on July 9 on charges of falsifying electronic records, breaching the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act.
• He confessed to mediating proxy test-taking for more than ten Vietnamese technical interns aiming to secure specific skilled worker visas.
• Investigators say he used social networking services to recruit both clients and stand-in test-takers, receiving tens of thousands of yen per referral.
• Authorities have detained additional suspects as they expand the probe into the organized SNS-based network behind the scheme.
• The fraud came to light after an unusually high pass rate at Osaka sites prompted scrutiny of the Japanese-Language Basic Test’s integrity.