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A 38-year-old man was assaulted by two men who sprayed a substance on his face and stole a bag containing 3 million yen in Nagoya on Tuesday.
According to police, the incident occurred at around 4:50 p.m. in Minato Ward, Sankei Shimbun reported. The victim, a company employee, told police that two men wearing face masks and caps came up behind him as he was walking along the street. One of the men sprayed something on his face and the other snatched his bag.
The victim called 110 on his cell phone. Police said he was taken to hospital and that he was not seriously injured by the substance sprayed on his face.
Police said the man works for a store that deals in antiques and used items. He said he received an email from a potential seller who had asked him to come and have a look at some items for sale, which is why he had so much cash in his bag.
© Japan Today
24 Comments
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Sven Asai
That implies the email senders might be connected or identical with the robbers, doesn’t it?
cleo
If he was going to meet the seller, presumably he has an address where said seller can be reached.
Or was it another let's-meet-in-a-hotel-lobby-and-you-bring-a-bagful-of-cash kind of deal?
No one these days walks around with millions of yen in cash.
Either the employee is a total fool, or he's in on it.
Mocheake
Zaphod
Maybe check where this phone call came from? Just sayin...
JeffLee
Maybe he should consider introducing a cashless payment system in his shop. Or accept credit cards.
shogun36
Hey buddy, next time, maybe have the seller come into the shop and bring the item.
blvtzpk
if you lived here, you’d know the answer already.
cleo
Let me rephrase my previous statement.
No one these days with any sense walks around with millions of yen in cash.
Nope. Large sums go directly through the bank.
When people ask for large sums in cash you can be sure something fishy is going on. Either they’re trying to diddle you, or they’re trying to diddle the tax man.
iradickle
I don't know here people are getting this "you only have to deal in cash" idea. When I bought my house I transferred the down payment from one bank to the bank I got the loan from. What is weird is at the time of signing I had to go downstairs and withdraw the cash and bring it back upstairs so they could separate the fees.
There have been a few cases like this and it seems like an easily avoidable set-up (not much common sense needed) or an inside job (or he just happened to have a big ￥ mark on his bag and was sweating like a fountain)
hazycake
Obviously, I have no proof of this but it sounds like 1 million for each guy, including the "victim."
I find it hard to believe it was a coincidence that these two men attacked him not knowing there's three million yen in the bag.
If it is an inside job, I hope he's a good actor.
Do the hustle
Was the seller legit or was it a set up?
Rob-3
Mark
This is an inside JOB.
Tora
CLEO:
Let me rephrase my previous statement.
No one these days with any sense walks around with millions of yen in cash.
cleo: I guess you don't live or have lived in japan. It's perfectly normal here. I also has to take a bad of cash to pay off my loan. The bank demanded it. I also know of plenty of others that had do to carry bags of cash to settle transactions. The banks here often DEMAND it.
No choice. Ridiculous, I know.
Nator
@cleo
On occasion I have been into JA and every time I have seen old men getting large amounts of cash. Not that I want to encourage crime but I am amazed how open and easy it would be to rob these people. JA does not even have security windows.
It is also the case that quite a lot of old people put large sums of cash in non-bank places to avoid taxes both for themeselves and relatives. I am quite sure when this hidden money gets stolen they do not inform the police.
Chikuyokei
Bags of cash are indeed necessary.
When I bought my house here, I was unable to get a mortgage. The real estate company demanded cash for the price of the house.
To be paid at their office on a Sunday, when of course the banks are closed.
I requested that millions of yen be taken out of my account at Japan Post Bank. After answering all their questions about whether I'd had a phone call from someone posing as my child or grandchild in desperate need of money, or if the money was going to Iran or North Korea, and what I was planning to use it for, etc., etc., they had the cash ready for me to pick up a couple of days later, on a Thursday.
I took a friend with me for protection.
Hid the wad under the cat toilet until Sunday.
Got it safely handed over to the real estate agent, who then paid the previous owner, who was sitting there waiting for it.
He gave me the keys and headed for Yokohama with his bag full of cash, much more than three million yen.
thaonephil
It is so weird that people in Japan are so obsessed with cash but still fall for the oldest tricks on the book. In my country this would be such an obvious trap that the victim would be automatically suspected of being part of the crime.
Kyakusenbi_Arimasu
You cannot get a 'burner' phone in Japan, as they require a phone contract with documentation of residency to get a phone number there. You can look at the various sites on Narita's website. ... Softbank prepaid. Its about 6,000 yen to buy the phone and get 2 months of service on it.
blvtzpk
Copying and pasting from a Reddit page - from 2014 - without crediting the source?
Great work!
https://www.reddit.com/r/japan/comments/1zmpog/shortterm_mobile_burner_phone_in_japan/
mmwkdw
@Kyakusembi_Arimasu - as Japanese you must be used to it, but as a Foreigner walking around with a Briefcase of notes equivalent to a Buck or more is nerve racking - where's my handcuff, bodyguard thoughts ring through your mind, why's that person looking oddly at me ? Oddly for transferring the Notional of a mortgage between banks, here in Japan, that seems to be the norm.
Kyakusenbi_Arimasu
Can burner phones be used here, or is that just on American TV?
@Cleo: I disagree about walking around with millions of Yen in cash. I did that before City Bank went away to pay off a Japanese loan at Mizuho in cash. About ¥25,000,000 in crisp bills. So there still are people carrying big cash here.