The Japanese arm of Internet giant Yahoo has asked police how to handle the sale on its auction site of lapel pins claimed by the sellers to be genuine insignia of a major crime sydicate, a spokesman said yesterday.
"We are upset ... and are consulting police on measures to cope with them," said Yahoo Japan Corp public relations manager Toru Nagano, adding it was not illegal to sell yakuza mobster badges unless they had been stolen.
The company has a list of items banned from on-line shopping, ranging from illegal drugs to stolen goods, but it has not deleted the insignia yet pending police advice.
"The closest regulation that might fit this case is a ban on the sale of licenses and passes issued by public organizations," he said, noting the site had deleted offers of attorneys' lapel pins and police notebooks it once posted.
"Of course, crime syndicates are not public organizations but selling their pins can cause various social problems," he said.
On September 27 an unidentified person offered to sell four pins claimed to be for top members of the Sumiyoshi-kai crime syndicate at ?200,000 (US$1,800) each, inviting bids by the end of yesterday.
"Never misuse this!" the seller said in a comment on the pin, which was described as "precious."
"This is the genuine emblem ... the symbol of the family protected by the blood of its boss and followers," it said.
Accompanying pictures show a round, silver-color pin engraved with the Kanji character reading "sumi" (to live,
Japanese crime syndicates each have distinctive crests, often displayed openly in the form of pins or other items as a means of intimidation in the belief that their threats are more effective if seen to be backed by a large organization.
There also are offers of other items engraved with yakuza insignia, including mobile phone straps and a necklace, on the auction site.
A used gold-colored chain with a coin engraved with what the seller claims to be the crest of the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's most notorious yakuza syndicate, is being offered.
"You will have an aura that scares people away," the seller says. An on-line picture shows the chain worn on a man's bare chest covered with dragon tattoos.
Other items offered on the auction site have raised the eyebrows of online shoppers in the past.
An unused ballot for the leadership election for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party last month was offered last month, although the seller retracted it after the Japanese media called it into question.
Yahoo Japan has a special squad monitoring the auction site 24 hours a day, but it is impossible to check every item with some 4 million items offered on the site, Nagano said.
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