TOKYO -- Fraudulent online banking transfers in Japan in 2025 resulted in a record loss of around 10.4 billion yen (about $65.39 million), the National Police Agency (NPA) said Thursday.

Of the damage, up about 1.7 billion yen from a year before, individuals accounted for about 55 percent, while companies accounted for around 45 percent. Losses suffered by companies surged to around 4.7 billion yen, more than quadruple the previous year's amount, according to data compiled by the NPA.

Phishing scams, which aim to deceive victims into revealing sensitive information, accounted for 90 percent of cases, the most common method used in illicit money transfers, totaling a record high 2,454,297, up by about 730,000 from the previous year.

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The number of fake websites reported increased by about 300,000 cases from the previous year to over 1 million.

Meanwhile, ransomware attacks, in which attackers block victims from accessing their computer data and demand payment for them to regain it, were up by four cases to 226, with about 60 percent of the victims being small and medium-sized firms, the NPA said.

In a survey of companies and others impacted by ransomware attacks, about half reported recovery costs exceeding 10 million yen, with five cases surpassing 100 million yen, the agency said.