A 62-year-old man was arrested on Thursday for defrauding a 49-year-old South Korean woman of 100 million yen in cash by convincing her that U.S.$1-million bills can be exchanged with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Mitsuhiro Notsu was arrested for allegedly deceiving the victim, who runs a bar in Akasaka, where he is a regular customer, by telling her that she could make a big profit if she invested her money in a fund.
According to police, from July to November in 2006, Notsu gained the victim's trust by asking her to keep 100 of the $1-million bills for him. The woman said he told her that she could exchange them with the CIA and they would transfer the money to her. Then, Notsu asked her to invest 200 million yen in a fictitious fund. Although he later gave her back 46 million yen as a “return on investment,” the victim has not received a dividend and the rest of the money she invested is unaccounted for.
Notsu denies the allegations but told police that he had obtained the $1-million bills from a group of foreigners in Kabukicho, Shinjuku's red light district.
© Japan Today
28 Comments
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timorborder
Blame the foreigners down in Kabukicho - If the police waste time following that lead, next they will be arresting people for killing avatars in online games.
Anyway, the perp here is jumping the gun here a bit. Everybody knows that US$1 million bills don't exist. The US might be having a small financial crisis at the moment, however, when I woke up this morning the President of the US was not taking economic tips from Robert Mugabe.
rjd_jr
I'm sorry but I don't have much sympathies for people being scammed, should know better if it sounds too good to be true, it is.
Samuraiiki
She probably fell for it out of greed. So, it is probably some kind of "karma" or whatever you want to call it.
Advice: be careful about any to good to be true deals, and before investing large amount of money, do your homework and investigate not only the person, but the company with the securities and exchange commission. You probably will not have to go that far when you tell the scammer that you will consult with your lawyer first.
ptolemy
Ptolemy says if you buy a chicken make sure it looks like a chicken and clucks and does not tweet or chirp. Also remember the days of honesty Japan are as much a memory of a by gone age as safety Japan. He could exchange them with the CIA? Since when does the CIA run the Federal Reserve that has the authority to print money. This woman's greed got the best of her, there are no $1mil bills, being Korean she should have known that, they see bills all the time, even using Google could have told her that. No sympathy from Ptolemy. When can we eradicate the stupid gene and clean up the DNA pool?
gogogo
The sell on ebay for 1 dollar...
http://popular.ebay.com/ns/Collectibles/1-Million-Dollar-Bill.html
mindovermatter
This is the kind of rationale / reasoning that you need to deal with if you live in Japan...
People believe this kind of bunk, if Mr.Tanaka or whoever, their neighbor, teacher, principal, policeman, etc... tells them so....
franz75
hahahaha!
haytkayokomiya
Duh.
thepro
Yeah, I think if you are that dumb then good luck trying to hold onto your money
Blue_Tiger
The first mistake the perp made was having a $1 Million bill with George Washington's picture. Everyone who knows that there are no $1 Million notes also knows that George Washington is on the $1 note in the first place. Had the perp gotten a $1 million note with any other president's face, it may have been more passable (unless the president on the bill was Jackson, Jefferson, or Grant, or Hamilton as on the $10, or Franklin on the $100).
Sarge
I prefer the Gadzillion dollar bill with Paulson's picture on it and with the words "In bailouts we trust."
jp1983
I don't feel sorry for this lady. Ever hear of due diligence? I did see a $500 bill once in Vegas. It was on display.
memyselfI
Scams, people TRIED and FAILED to scam me. One time i was in Thailand. These Australian or NZ people wanted me to give ten thousand dollars for a membership for free hotels and free airline tickets around the world. I laughed in their face and I went on my marry way. You can't fool me with stupid giveaways. Old people especially in Japan and S. Korea need to get educated. NHK and other Japanese channels need to have a forum on t.v to talk about this bank scamming issues. Please stop showing stupid triva and variety shows for awhile.
Spidey
Hey! Does this mean that my Alice Cooper billion dollar bill is worthless!? And here I've been holding onto it since the 70's! Damn!
S
iraira
He's not guilty, I mean foreigners in Kabukicho (not Roppongi) gave him the bills, so he must be telling the truth.
Nessie
They can be exchanged with the CIA. Exchanged for prison time.
Nessie
Sarge, everyone knows the real gadzillion-dollar bill has Gadzilla on it.
Dennis Bauer
The internet is only one click away to check these things ;)
BBLeo
I don't call him stupid but smart, and woman concerned is a real full. She should be aware by now that that the world if full of grid and scams. When you think of it, he did fix her up with sensibility. "PEOPLE LEARN WHAT THE MEANING OF WORD TRUST IS.' She shouldn't cry but blaming herself.
WilliB
Do we have a contestant for a financial Darwin award?
smartacus
By the way, where would a South Korean bar owner in Akasaka get 200 million yen in cash? I mean that's a lot of money. I can't even imagine that much in cash.
Elbuda Mexicano
I think over 20 years ago, the U.S. govt. stopped making bills of over $1000 because, it was too easy for the mafias too stuff a couple of $1000 notes into suitcases, so if I am not mistaken the biggest denominations for the U.S. currency is $100, and it is also the most counterfitied money on the face of the earth. Good old North Korea seems to be one of the better ones but even the North Koreans are not as silly as to try to make a $1,000,000 note!
isthistheend
The bar in Akasaka charges 100,000 yen per visitor per night, or at least some of them do. I went one time with a friend who paid the bill. But I asked at the door, what would be the charge if I had to pay for the 2 drinks, peanuts, 2 karoake songs and sitting next to a hostess for an hour. Of course, I've never gone back since. But that's how they get huge money, backed and covered by the mafia of course.
usaexpat
she should have googled urban legends. There are not and have never been any 1 million dollar bills and where exactly would you find a CIA office to exchange them anyway?
goodDonkey
I saw a $100,000 bill on television many years ago. The $100,000 gold certificate, series 1934, featuring Woodrow Wilson. On the program it said it was not legal tender. It was used only for transactions between the Fed and the Treasury but on the bill it says "all debts public and private."
http://www.roumazeilles.net/news/fr/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/bill-of-100000-dollar.jpg
letstalk
And to think the only million dollar I have ever heard of is the Million Dollar Man Ahahaha!
Spidey
Uhhh...I believe that's the SIX Million Dollar Man you are refering to.
S
letstalk
yeah, you're right! that's the one.., i knew i was missing something but cannot get my finger on it (L0L)