87-year-old man swindled out of Y7 mil by bogus son

Stupid....absolutely no compassion what-so-ever. Just a couple of fools who don't pay attention to scam and fraud warnings that have announced for nearly a decade now.

Pretend son...could not tell it was an imposter? Dysfunctional family relationship there.

After all this public awareness campaigning i have lost sympathy for this kind of victim. But there are so many problems with this:

The old man got duped by scammers, in a way that everybody knows about. The old man's wife didnt add any sort of critical thinking, she didnt even speak to the scam artists, yet still believed it. The bank teller allowed an old woman to withdraw a large amount of money without cautioning her about these sorts of scams and suggesting ways to confirm The son who hasnt spoken to his parents about this sort of scam to prevent it happening

So sad that it happened despite all these places it should have been picked up.

When you consider the shear volume of these cases, I think banks should prohibit people over 60 from making withdrawls or bank transfers without the consent of a second authorized person. I'm sure they could develop some type of electronic authorization system.

ok ok, give the old guy a break. You have no idea you will be functioning or be able to hear properly at his age. We should be banding to find these culprits.

Very stupid family ...

At least the money might actually get spent now instead of being left to rot in a worthless no-interest account. Think of the economy!

@Cricky

Pretend son...could not tell it was an imposter? Dysfunctional family relationship there.

In NO way do I wish to condone what happened however, in view of his age :87, instead of being a "dysfunctional family relationship" couldn't it be a "hearing problem" for the old man ? If he was so willing to help out his "son" it wouldn't seem to me that the relationship would be all that dysfunctional.

Point taken, but I still maintain that a family that can not tell an actual family member from a imposter has some communication issues, dysfunctional might be too strong, estranged might be more generous.

I think I agree with FightingViking. We are most definitely not a dysfunctional family, Mr cleo's 88yo mum gets regular visits both from us and from her grandchildren. She's pretty mentally 'with it' for her age, certainly a long way off being senile, but on the phone we have to say who we are; she can no longer recognise voices. Just a few years ago she knew who she was talking to after just 'moshi moshi'; now she needs a name.

The con men know what they are doing and have a pretty polished spiel going that ties the possibly-easily-confused-anyway elderly in knots; it isn't just, 'Hi, I'm your son, send me some money'.

Piles of worthless excrement who pick on the old, the weak or children are scum, the lowest of the low and deserve no sympathy or mercy when caught.

Can't believe the response of some on here,

If it was one of your parents who got scammed would you still have the same reaction, no sympathy for the aged victims ?

Old people deserve sympathy, protection and as much help as can be given, how old are your folks?

87 years old and SOME of the comments here are just asinine.

How about this, maybe you don't realize how vulnerable an 87 year old can be because you've abandoned your family back home.

Fizzbit seems the over entitled "me me me" generation care nothing for their elders or the elders of others, seems typical of these younger generations now.

Disgusting to think some have no empathy or regard for others and they don't even try to hide the fact.

Disgusting but there is nothing left to be done.

Money lost his the couple. If they are still thinking, they may ask to be helped by son. Something which they did not care of apparently. Banksters responsibility too.

BTW, anyone can be fooled any age and only your intelligence can save you.

How about people who commit crimes actually get punished harshly, none of this slap on the wrist don't do it again you poor underprivileged mistreated soul as judges tend to do these days.

Commit a crime and do hard time, commit a crime against old weak or children and do double time, commit a crime of violence and suffer severe hardship. Too much crime and not enough punishment it seems.

How can you blame the victim in cases like this, the person to blame is the scoundrel for crying out loud.

afanofjapan:

" The bank teller allowed an old woman to withdraw a large amount of money without cautioning her about these sorts of scams and suggesting ways to confirm "

Totally agreed. And we do not even need a new law for that. How often do octogenerians walk into a bank and wish to withdraw several million yen in cash?

I think a rule to interview them in each case and explain to them the ore ore sagi scam would be in the discretion of the bank branch. If they still insist on proceeding after having confirmed that this is an obvious scam... well, I guess everybody has the right to be stupid.

WOW!!!!!!!!!!

That goes on to show you it doesn't matter how much money you have you still have to have some common sense which includes STREET sense not just Book sense.

So many mean comments! Why blame the victim? Scammers are not stupid either they get to be pros at their game. You can educate yourself and then still have it happen to you especially if you have a trusting nature who doesn't automatically suspect others of bad motives.

I thnk the perps should be shot and hung out in public as a deterrent. But what I really have an issue with in these cases is why do parents/elderly seem to think that they are responsible for paying for their child's mistakes? The man has a son, and by now he is an adult with his own job. If he makes a mistake and loses something that belongs to the company, then he and the company need to come to terms not fmaily members.

If businesses are not insured for these kinds of losses, then shame on them. If only this attitude was shown by the public towards the elected officials. Let's make them call their relatives to bail them out after they lose the public's money. Oh wait they do, it's called raising taxes.

@StormR

How can you blame the victim in cases like this, the person to blame is the scoundrel for crying out loud

In majority of cases, the victim should not be blamed. However, this particular scam is as old as dirt. Its been going on for a decade now and ignorance should be no excuse. There have been PSAs, posters, announcements on buses and other public transportation, not to mention that it has been in the news time and time again.

Its a totally preventable scam. You simply ask one question: "what is your name?" or "what are your siblings names?" or "what are your children's names...ANYTHING that can prove that the person on the phone is who they say they are. Or better yet, tell them to come and pick up the money IN PERSON!!

We aren't taking about about pocket change here, This is a significant amount of cash. How can anyone just hand it over to complete stranger without even asking their name is beyond all common sense and comprehension. This is why I say that I know longer have compassion for people who are easily suckered out of their savings.

People may also argue that this man may have been senile. If that is the case, he should not be able to authorize a huge withdraw like that. So sad and so pathetic...and what is even sadder is that it's probably going to happen again, because people don't take time out and ask questions or listen.

After i reached 65 I told my kids. When you need money don't call me. Come to my house. So I can know its you.

You know, my mother in law had a phone call like this a few months ago. Know what she did She CALLED both of her sons to clarify they were both okay. Is it sad? Yes. Is it disgusting? Yes. But come on folks, a little common sense here wouldn't hurt.

This is a pretty lucrative scam and has netted the thieves billions of yen over the past decade or so. There have been some minor educational campaigns, but the fact that it is still happening shows the campaigns have been inadequate. The only way to stop this is with education of the seniors through blanket and repeated media coverage and warnings. I've seen some posters in banks about this, but they are pretty obscure and have cute little cartoon characters on them. It's obvious that nobody is paying attention to them. I know it is not the responsibility of the banks, but the banks should start questioning large cash withdrawals by senior citizens. It may seem like an invasion of privacy, but it has to be better than giving the cash to a scammer.