Rise of ‘spot work’ schemes leading to scams in Japan

The growing popularity in Japan of “spot work” staffing arrangements, which enable people to work short hours such as during their free time and be paid the same day, has led to an increase in schemes defrauding operators of related platforms.

Industry members are worried that the type of scam, in which operators of platform apps pay wages to spot workers initially on behalf of their employers but cannot collect the money later from the businesses, may spread.

According to the Japan Spot Work Association, an organization of platform operators, the total number of people registered with its four main member firms and Mercari Hallo, a new service launched by flea market app operator Mercari in March, stood at around 25 million people as of last month.