identity theft

If your Japanese driver's license data was leaked: what to do to prevent misuse (credit bureau alerts, reissue, where to get help)

A practical guide for people whose Japanese driver's license image or number was leaked by a company. The license number, name, date of birth and face photo cannot be changed by the holder, and a reissued license keeps the first 11 digits of its number (National Police Agency directive). At the same time, non-face-to-face identity checks for mobile phone and bank contracts are moving from sending document images to reading the card's IC chip (mobile phone online contracts from April 2026; transactions under the Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds from April 2027, as scheduled). This site's take: there is no way to take leaked data back, so the core of the response is making sure you notice quickly if something is opened in your name. In practice that means registering an identity-fraud alert (honnin shinkoku) with all three Japanese credit bureaus (CIC, JICC and the Japanese Bankers Association's KSC), checking your own credit file, and ignoring messages that pose as the company that leaked the data. Reissuing the license and paid 'data deletion' services are low priority or useless.