An 81-year-old man living in Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture, was defrauded of approximately 288.11 million yen in a social media investment scam in which he was offered the opportunity to operate an online store.
According to police reports, the man was contacted by a woman claiming to be Japanese on a social networking site in early April, NHK reported The woman asked the man if he would be interested in operating an online store and he said yes.
Afterward, the woman told him she needed money to purchase items for the shop. By the end of July, the scammer had convinced the man to make 55 money transfers through online banking. He only realized he had been scammed when he could no longer contact the woman on the social networking site.
Moreover, the victim never met the woman once.
Police are warning the public to be wary of similar fraud cases where scammers make over-the-top statements like, “You will definitely make money if you just invest in this scheme.”
© Japan Today
20 Comments
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リッチ
No banking insurance or assistance to get the money back? Most places in the world the money can be charged back and the receiver accounts frozen. Banks in Japan rarely support customers like the other countries I’ve lived. It’s truly is amazing.
The Nomad
At his age he should have started spending bis money and enjoy the few more years he's got left.
Jim
The banks in Japan need to do more to tackle these sorts of bank transfer frauds given the fact that they have account information of the other person who the money is transferred to! It’s highly possible for them to track down these people given the fact that to open a bank account in Japan people need to present photo ID and other relevant documents. These scammers need to be caught and brought to justice.
Lots of other information missing in this article! It’s stated “ the woman claiming to be a Japanese “… so was she or wasn’t she? This could be verified easily through the details of whom he transferred the money to! Also if a foreigner receives that kind of money through transfers in any Japanese bank then it’s surely flagged by the bank. So it’s highly possible that the woman was indeed a Japanese as far as her identity with the banks is concerned.
Alongfortheride
For that amount of money it would be worth hiring some of the best internet fraud investigators throughout the world to track the money and the person. It can be done
CaptDingleheimer
Smart enough to make $2M, but not to keep it.
BertieWooster
The topic of this article, unless I am very much mistaken is the defrauding of someone on a social networking site. He was apparently swindled out of some 280 million yen. This kind of scamming is not uncommon on social network sites. I recently had an experience on Facebook. I would like to post this here because it is a warning to others who might be scammed.
I was contacted by and had quite a long chat on FB with an individual who assured me was Elon Musk. He called me on Messenger and looked about to speak when the video suddenly cut off. I asked him to call again and he did. Strange, I thought, he made exactly the same head movement! He offered to give me a Tesla free and make me an executive in his company. He said that a little investment from me would bring me in roughly $20,000 a day.
I told him that I had no money to invest and didn't need a Tesla. Since then I have heard nothing from him.
This actually happened. It was very well done. I could easily have been fooled by it.
Gaijinjland
Huh… not sure about most Japanese banks, but Prestia temporarily froze my account a few years ago when I tried to transfer 1M yen and wouldn’t release the money until I gave them more details.
Fighto!
Sure - if you were really stupid and/or suffering from a form of dementia. Which the old man in the story above may have been.
If it sounds too good to be true - it always IS.
Shirokuma4812
I had $8000 American and took it to get exchanged into yen and you would not believe the hoops I had to go through to exchange the money! “Where did you get this money?”. “What are you using this money for?”. “What school will you son be attending?”. But, the bank allows him to transfer so much money, even if over time?
WoodyLee
I blame the internet providers for allowing these scammers to get a phone number to start with, how could these scammer get a number so easy without providing their personal details?
Money talks as usual, all the providers care about is signing someone up for 7,000 or 10,000 yens a month contract and the rest is history.
Roger Gusain
My advice to anyone who is lucky enough to accumulate that much money by age 81 -- don't tell anyone about it. Keep it in the bank and withdraw 3 or 4 % a year. Your money will easily outlive you. You don't need to risk anything.
kaimycahl
@CaptDingleheimer Just because he had 2 million doesn't mean he actually made it. The money could have been inherited!
Smart enough to make $2M, but not to keep it.
Roger Gusain
Japan is an El Dorado for scam artists. Rich people with dementia had better watch out!
gaijintraveller
Japanese banks do ask questions about money coming into the country if the amount is over ¥1,000,000 or is it $10,000 which used to be about the same. This is all to do with money laundering requirements, which are easily circumvented by those with lots of money and a smart accountant. I have been asked why I am bringing money into the country and where it came from. I tell them it came from Japan and I sent it out of Japan during the bubble for two reasons. One reason was I thought Japanese banks at the time had made too many unwise loans and the other was they never paid an interest on deposits. In my case I told the Mizuho bank to check their records of my transfers from the now defunct Fuji Bank. These regulations are just a hassle for small guys but not the big guys and scammers.
Gene Hennigh
There is no evidence of the man having dementia. Older people weren't born in the computer age (I wasn't) and are not as adept as people who were. This man ought to have run the offer by a friend or bank or at least someone he knows before doing what he did. Most of us are aware of scams but this guy wasn't or simply didn't think it through. Younger people fall for them, too. Don't blame the man, blame the scammers.
Mocheake
I feel for this man. We don't know anything about his mental state so maybe he is suffering from some form of cognitive impairment. I think you'd have to be to make FIFTY-FIVE bank transfers to someone you've never met even once! You have that kind of loot, what could you possibly be thinking? That you can make another fortune operating an online store with a total stranger?
Furby
What an idoit
Abe234
The bank clearly could have seen a red flag. If we can see it, and we’re your average Joe, why didn’t the bank question these strange movements of money especially for an older person who may not be so savvy. I can only imagine the torcher the victim is feeling. It’s not just the money they stole but all the time to accumulate such a large amount. The people who scam old people are scum.
kurisupisu
Another scam that I have seen is a well made delivery note, sent via email, from a famous parcel forwarder asking for payment (by credit card) for delivery of goods.
It is a scam.