The Ministry of Finance (MOF) in Japan issued a warning on Thursday regarding a fraudulent account on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, impersonating Masato Kanda, the nation’s top currency diplomat. This alert comes amid rising concerns in the market over potential currency interventions following the yen’s decline to a one-month low.
In an unusual English-language statement posted on its official X account, the MOF advised users to refrain from following the fake account, clarifying that there is no legitimate account associated with Kanda or his staff. The ministry stated, “Please don’t follow the impersonation account and/or comment on the post,” emphasizing the existence of the fraudulent account.
The MOF has taken steps to address the situation by requesting that X suspend the impersonation account. The official statement included a directive encouraging public cooperation in this matter, as noted in the ministry’s post here.
The impostor account, created in March, uses the name “Masato Kanda” and the user ID “@Jgghkj_.” To date, it has made only four posts, with three of them consisting of images of Kanda uploaded on March 1. The most recent post, timestamped at 3:56 PM (0656 GMT), appeared to reference Kanda’s recent visit to Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Kanda visited Ukraine to discuss Japan’s support for the country, as confirmed by the MOF.
Following its launch, the impersonation account garnered about 5,000 followers while only being followed by around 550 users. Interestingly, it has not commented on the yen or financial markets.
As Japan’s vice-minister of finance for international affairs, Kanda plays a pivotal role in managing the country’s approach to the yen’s depreciation, having overseen extensive yen-buying and dollar-selling operations late last year.
Before the Bank of Japan’s (BOJ) policy meeting on July 27-28, Kanda made some noteworthy remarks regarding the potential for adjustments in BOJ policy, indicating that authorities are prepared to consider all available options to address the yen’s volatility.
The BOJ recently surprised the markets by modifying its bond yield control program, allowing for greater fluctuations in interest rates.
On Thursday, the yen fell to 143.89 against the US dollar, the lowest level since July 7, coinciding with the BOJ’s announcement of emergency bond purchases aimed at stabilizing a rise in 10-year bond yields.
Market participants are closely monitoring the MOF’s upcoming decisions as the yen approaches the 145-per-dollar threshold, a level that had previously prompted Japan’s first yen-buying intervention since 1998 last September.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
