shashasha

In “Hijack Geni”, Japanese artist Kenji Chiga explores the "ore-ore scam," a popular fraud that costs victims over 30 billion yen each year.

After learning that his own parents had been victims of the scam (in which perpetrators often pretend to be relatives in need), Chiga began researching the phenomenon. Having read official reports and interviews with victims and perpetrators, he became fascinated by the complex circumstances and psychological aspects of the scam and its organizational backgrounds. For the book, Chiga met with elderly victims, rented apartments that possible perpetrators would use, investigated areas where scam call victims parted with their money, and simulated his own scam phone calls and ATM withdrawals.

With "Hijack Geni," Chiga shares his findings and experiences in the form of 90 fictional cases with portraits based on his own face. He lays out the social and financial backgrounds that contribute to the growing prevalence of the scam, citing confessions and testimony, real and fake phone conversations, statistics, charts, and crime-scene photos. Remarkably, Chiga's fascinating approach is not one of mere condemnation - in addition to a compassionate treatment of their victims, "Hijack Geni" also delves into the social tensions behind these crimes and the ethical problems that arise from societal ills such as growing wealth inequality.

“The reasons why victims suffer psychological damage despite having done nothing wrong is this debilitating mentality that permeates Japanese society – that both parties are to blame, that the person who is deceived is also at fault … No matter what the circumstances or the history, the person who deceives is the one at fault.

Furthermore, in order to prevent the creation of criminals in this society in the first place, it is important to face the underlying circumstances of these criminals and the ‘sins of society’ that are causing them to go unpunished, and not rely on people’s individual conscience to maintain public order. It’s important to prevent vulnerable people from becoming criminals.”
― from Chiga Kenji’s “Hijack Geni”