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© 2015 AFPGifu woman held for cashing dead parents' pension for 50 years
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© 2015 AFP
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Laguna
Dude. I was BORN in 1965. Since then, I have done a lot of homework, graduated from college, married, created a career, and raised two children. One would think that, during all that time, some bureaucratic entity would have found the time to at least drop by.
Most Japanese civil servants are too busy issuing useless but required documents to do anything of any importance whatsoever.
zones2surf
Now this brought a smile to my face. So much so that it almost should have been categorised as an Entertainment story rather than a crime story.
And love that she has denied any wrongdoing. Classic.
Yes, yes, I know this fraud and all of that. But.... she got away with it for 50 years!? Hats off to her....
nath
I gotta agree. At this point, and at her age, cut off the payments and count it up to a mistake. Punishing her will do nothing.
CH3CHO
I believe this is the case.
She reported the deaths of her parents 50 years ago. But the pension officers kept sending money to the bank account. It was the fault of pension officers, not hers.
kyushubill
Much less wrong than the rape of Japan by the LDP vampires.
BTW how about all those "lost" pensions discovered in 2006? Ever found? Ever paid?
Sorry, I hope they file no charges. I like to see the people get the system once in a while.
Sensato
Tip of the iceberg methinks.
Given that Japan is known as having the longest average lifespan in the world, I wonder how much of that statistic is attributable to deaths where no death certificate was issued, where people who have passed away are still thought to be alive (although in this particular case death certificates were issued, so I imagine they mother and father were not counted as still alive in calculating Japan's longevity statistics).
coskuri
So the agency has been slacking during 50 years. Ask the persons in charge of this couple's pension file to give back salaries of the last 49 years. All that time, the persons were on the official list of dead, no longer on the lists of residents, of Social Security, of taxpayers. The pension agency had to check more often that once in a century.
Already arrested ? That's outrageous. They put in jail a bachan for less than 3 millions she just received by mistake. If that was a politician or a big businessman (for instance my ex boss, or TEPCO's bosses) caught over thousands of millions stolen, taken as bribe or misused, there would be years of investigations or trials before they get handcuffs, if they do.
nath
For 50 years? Probably for her life.
Eppee
"I'm not even mad, that's amazing"
how to get gimelim
In my country, one should go and personally collect their pension each and every month after identifying themselves at the pension distribution office with an ID which has their picture . Of course, they should be accompanied by their carers, if they have some illness and/or disability.
SenseNotSoCommon
Shouldn't a cabinet minister resign over this?
Disillusioned
50 years? Do you think there is a major flaw in the system?
khulifi
Very smart obachan ...
Mirai Hayashi
No one was able to figure out that the parents of an 86 year old may not be alive anymore?
samwatters
Your tax yen at work; civil servants with no common sense.
sensei258
She's 86. They'll have to keep giving her money, but they'll just call it something else.
MarkX
What did she use the money for? Was she living the life of Riley? If she was foolish enough to bank it, maybe the government can recover what they paid her.
Wc626
Woe- she fooled 'em all. Pretty savy old gal. But @86, how do ya make the punishment fit the crime?
John-San
Really they should of just sweep this under the carpet and stop the payments and be done with it. This make the Pension Office you very stupid. They should just use this information in-house to review protocols and fix up their system.
C Harald Hansen
Actually, punishing people is not only to punish them, but also to deter others from doing the same. If they do nothing, others will go "Oh, well then. All I get is a slap on the wrists. Let's go ahead." I know she's old and all that, but it doesn't set a good precedence to just let people off the hook.
DVDexpert
So this criminal steals our money and now what? We have to fork out to pay for her healthcare while she fades away unpunished. Disgusting! Any simple check could have prevented this fraud decades ago.
ToshiYori
Appears some Government agencies should accept some of the blame for this fiasco. Someone failed to properly file the death certificates to ensure all concerned were aware of the parents' death. However, the daughter is not without blame for continuing to accept and spend the pension payments.
MarkX
In the Japanese news they state that she used to work for the local city government, and that she probably new how to rig the system. Also, once a year you have to apply for for your pension, to keep it active and she did this for 50 years and now claims her innocence. As I said, take her house, all her possessions and lock her away. I feel bad for all the elderly that have had their pensions cut, by these inconsiderate, selfish people!
John-San
I did not know that if you check your bank account that they will give you cash!! I know if that you can cash a cheque! But it is correct when quoting a numeral it is written in word form unless the numeral is over ten just like five decades. I think two people wrote this item.
Fadamor
Apparently they're just now getting around to Gifu. They've been at it for at least four years, you'd think they would have caught this before now. Or maybe they're working from most recent pensioners to the oldest and just now got to people supposedly still alive but drawing pensions back in the 60's? If I were running the investigation, I'd start with the supposedly oldest pensioners and work forwards.
Wc626
This "endless" direct deposit scam is prop still going on as we (speak) comment in this forum. Ironic.
Monozuki
Although Suzuki was cashing her parents' pension for 50 years after they had died, she would presumably get away with a light sentence because of the statute of limitations. And the police have a hard time getting more time period to find her guilty. She is really crazy like a fox.
Jim McBride
she was making enough off those pensions and her work to get my nicely but was not really rich or it would have attracted attention .....and at her age probably wouldn't get much punishment even if the statute had not already passed
Magnus Roe
While she is a sneaky sneak, the fact the government had dearth certificates for fifty years yet there apparently is no communication with the pension agency makes it very hard to not to point and laugh. Every other country in the world has been mistakenly sending automated happy 100 year birthday cards to newborns since the mid 90s, while this country is apparently more than satisfied with keeping everything on paper
Pukey2
I can't wait for her excuse.
Old or young, I'm sorry, but she needs to be punished. The rest of us have to work for our money.
Stewart Gale
Pay it all back.
avigator
She already enjoyed the money and maybe she deserved it for taking care of them for those 50 years. You know, for many Asians, the dead are still alive and they have to do special celebrations and daily offerings. It is called ancestor worship". And those altars are not cheap either.