Japan’s Ministry of Finance (MOF) issued a warning about a fake social media account impersonating its top currency diplomat, Masato Kanda, on X, formerly known as Twitter. The market is concerned about a potential currency intervention as the yen dropped to a one-month low.
In a rare English-language post on its official account, the ministry asked users not to follow or comment on the impersonation account, clarifying that no X account belonging to Kanda or his staff existed. X (formerly Twitter) promptly suspended the fake account.
The account under the name “Masato Kanda” and user ID “@Jgghkj_” had been active since March, with only five posts to date, including pictures from Kanda’s purported trip to Ukraine. Kanda, Japan’s vice-minister of finance for international affairs, has been involved in efforts to stabilize the yen’s decline and implement yen-buying, dollar-selling operations.
The yen’s recent drop to 143.89 against the U.S. dollar has led to market speculation about possible currency intervention. The MOF’s actions are being closely monitored, as the yen approaches 145 per dollar, a level that triggered Japan’s first yen-buying intervention in over two decades in September last year.
