An Osaka man has been arrested on suspicion of taking an online job recruitment test for another person in exchange for payment, marking the first such case in Japan, investigative sources said Tuesday.
Nobuto Tanaka, 28, an employee of Kansai Electric Power Co., was arrested Monday by Tokyo police for allegedly standing in for a female university student and taking an online recruitment test for a credit card company in April. Charges are also expected to be filed as soon as Tuesday against the fourth-year student who requested that Tanaka take the exam for her, the sources said.
The arrest highlights the growing issue of cheating in online recruitment exams that have been increasingly adopted by firms in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to investigators, Tanaka is also suspected of having taken exams for roughly 1,000 different companies since January, after receiving requests from around 300 people via social media, who provided details such as their exam IDs and passwords so he could take the tests in exchange for money.
Tanaka is believed to have made around 4 million yen ($28,000) after charging the individuals roughly 2,000 yen per subject.
He is believed to have taken tests for about 20 firms at the request of the female student and received roughly 100,000 yen in payments from her.
Tanaka apparently advertised on social media that he had graduated from one of Kyoto University's graduate schools and had an "over 95 percent pass rate," the sources said.
