A local police station has taken the unusual step of telling owners whose lost items have been handed into the police to call the finders and thank them, saying a failure to do so could risk their being identified.

The move by the Nakagyo Police Station in Kyoto city came to light after a woman who lost her key wrote in an online post that police returned the key accompanied by a note to call and thank the finder or else her name and phone number would be revealed to the person who turned in the key.

In her post, the woman raised privacy concerns, prompting the police to rethink the wording, the police said Thursday.

The note is only given to the owners of lost-and-found items in cases where the finders want to be thanked by phone, according to the Kyoto prefectural police.

"If we learn that you did not call and say thank you, we will pass on your name and telephone number to the finder," the original note said.

Although there were no instances in which personal information was given without consent, the police station has acknowledged that the note could be misunderstood and said it has since amended it.

The woman wrote in her post that when she contacted the finder, she became frightened upon being told, "I wanted to see what kind of person you are."

Following her post, some expressed concerns over the station's handling of the matter.

The police station began distributing the note in November, in response to complaints from finders who did not receive so much as a thank you for their good deed.

Defying the adage "finders keepers," a range of lost items, including cash, wallets, mobile phones and keys, are found and handed over to police daily in Japan, and eventually returned to their rightful owners.

In February, Tokyo police announced that a record-high 3.67 billion yen ($32.9 million) in cash was turned into the police in 2016.