Police in Yokohama have arrested an unemployed 19-year-old man on suspicion of attempted fraud after he tried to get a man in his 70s to pay him money by pretending to be his son.
According to the police, the suspect made phone calls to the elderly man, who lives in Shikama, Miyagi Prefecture, on Sept 29 and Oct 1, in which he pretended to be the man’s son and said he needed money because he had gotten a woman pregnant, Sankei Shimbun reported.
Police said the suspect told the man, "I had an affair and now I have to pay 3 million yen in compensation.”
The man thought it was suspicious and called the police who arrested the suspect on the spot when he came to collect the cash on Tuesday.
Police believe the man was a "receiver" for a specialized fraud group, and are questioning about other scams he may have been involved in.
© Japan Today
5 Comments
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Zaphod
Good thinking by the victim to play along and call the cops to arrest the runner when he turned up. But there are always several layers of separation in these scam organizations, so I doubt the runner actually knows who the bosses are.
Some dude
Old guy has more sense than most younger people (see: crypto, NFT, etc.)
Course he could also have just said "ha, sucks to be you" and put the phone down.
virusrex
Fortunate that the intended victim had the presence of mind to call the police, unfortunately older adults frequently have neurological developments that increase the credulity, which is why they become much more susceptible to frauds (like in this case) as well as cult like groups.
リッチ
Sadly agree it’s good he was proactive but in the long term or maybe short term if they are a group the group will know who and where he lives now meaning he might need protection now. Do you really expect the Japanese police will help protect him long term.
Neurozoo
You mean SELF EMPLOYED, not unemployed.