Hackers breaking into the Japan National Pension Service computer network last month are reported to have stolen names, pension ID numbers and other personal information of 1.25 million people. 740,000 of those were stolen from the Okinawa data center of the organization.

According to Okinawa Pension Center officials, they have the information of a total of 1.18 million participants and recipients of the pension service in their computer system although the figure includes information of some people outside of the island prefecture. The 740,000 hacked cases account for about 60 % of all the information that Okinawa Center has maintained.

In response to the matter, Tsukasa Uema, the chief of the Prefectural Welfare Policy Division, called Naha Pension Center, Monday, to enact thorough measures against any negative effects on local people because of the incident.

Officials at the National Police Agency say 183 bogus phone calls has been reported over the pension data leak so far. Police said the callers usually posed as employees of the Japan Pension Service and told that in order to delete their personal data that had been stolen and be protected affected people would have to pay a fee. In some cases, the callers asked for personal information to verify the account information.

According to police officials, no monetary losses have been reported yet.

The NPA and the Japan Pension Service warn pensioners to be wary of calls from people identifying themselves as pension service employees or tax department staff.

Health and Welfare Minister Yasuhisa Shiozaki set up a panel to investigate the leak on Monday.

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