Man robbed of ¥80 mil on street near Tokyo's Roppongi

Why would anyone take that much cash instead of escrow it or just wire it.

This shouldn't need Sherlocke Holmes to solve, possibly one of the following:

1) His co-worker tipped someone off

2) The banker or financial employee that withdrew that much cash tipped someone off

3) The bank where the funds were withdrawn is under some kind of yakuza surveillance

4) The precious metals dealer tipped someone off

How can he prove he had the cash? It’s gone.

Welcome to Japan, using cash for a large scale purchase!

The gold seller will only accept cash because he delivers physically on the spot. A remittance might never arrive and the gold be gone. The buyer in this case had better arranged for the transfer to take place in the bank where the cash is paid out to him.

The gold seller will only accept cash because he delivers physically on the spot. A remittance might never arrive and the gold be gone. The buyer in this case had better arranged for the transfer to take place in the bank where the cash is paid out to him.

This is solved via escrow. The seller can verify the funds are available and have been released before handing over the goods.

yep downright primitive......what's the saying... oh ya

Fools & their money are soon departed!

Hot dam, that's a lot of Tuna

Why would anyone take that much cash instead of escrow it or just wire it.

That is a very western way of thinking. Japan is a safe country and carrying large amounts of cash is accepted and is not a crime, unlike in the U.S., if you carry a 1 hundred dollar bill, you cannot get change, people look at you funny and mark all over your money to make sure its not fake before you purchase something.

Japan isn't a "safe" country these kinds of robberies occur frequently and they are violent. But despite that companies still have individuals carry "millions" of yen unescorted. You would think that they would have another worker there as protection. But they don't and these types of "crimes" could be used to cover theft, launder money or a way to hide extortion payments. It is very strange that it takes 2 or 3 Japanese workers to change a lightbulb or check the position of a sign, but only one to carry a small fortune to the bank.

A business for hard times.

Bodyguards for Hire!

Apply within....

That is a very western way of thinking. Japan is a safe country and carrying large amounts of cash is accepted 

Looks like sometimes '' a very western way of thinking" can help keep you from being a victim and Japan is apparently not as safe as you may think. Let your guard down and things like this are bound to happen. Maybe a bodyguard or other safety precautions could have prevented this from happening.

I wouldn’t give up ¥80million for minor injuries. Very fishy.

what a great idea! Let’s stuff the better part of a million bucks into a bag and walk around one of the seediest parts of Tokyo. Somebody that knew the deal was going down has organized this. The list of suspects should not be too extensive

These large cash-grab robberies seem to happen pretty often in Japan. It’s difficult to believe they are covered by insurance when wonderingbatound with hundreds of thousands of bucks. Perhaps, just perhaps, Japan should join the modern world and start using checks and direct debit instead of cash, just perhaps.

@Mark Bradley,

1) His co-worker tipped someone off

2) The banker or financial employee that withdrew that much cash tipped someone off

3) The bank where the funds were withdrawn is under some kind of yakuza surveillance

4) The precious metals dealer tipped someone off

Or, the prospective "buyers", who set him up.

You guys are missing my point. There was no money. The "victim" will say there was money and provide a document from his company that says there was money, but that is it. Watch for another story like this. It is always 1 guy carrying some money and 1 bad guy comes up and just takes it away. The victim gets a scratch or scarped, but that is it. Or they make a ridiculous show of running after 4 guys with submachine guns, but not getting hurt. It is all a show designed to cover up a crime. Just like the mini-mini guys and their spray cans.

There is no viable excuse for this.

Some can say “This is how business is done in Japan” “This is how business is done in the precious metals industry in Japan” Or what ever other excuse want to offer up. There are preventive measures in Japan that will allow you a safe onsite or forward currency transaction.

Here are few.

PayPal.

Prepaid CC card.

Certified Bank Check from Tokyo UFC certified money order or bank check or some other bank. And yes, you can get cheques in Japan. I use them all the time.

There are as well Iphone and Android Apps for moving money around.

But the one I use and the most trusted is the postal account.

This in the end will end up being an inside job or some sort of insurance scam. You have these old Japanese business owners insisting to do things the old way and carrying around cash. Come on. Get with the times. Nothing is impossible. You must be smarter than this.

You can surmise either one or two things.

Scam/Fraud -or- Inside job. Never random. It was planned.

Maybe the seller specified cash to avoid tax, there is a downside to tax, to avoid tax, crime can happen.

I agree that it's a strong likelihood that there was no street robbery. As said above, they could have nicked the money themselves and faked the robbery for cover. So far as their injuries, I'd happily take a few punches to the face for that kind of money.

That's a lot of cash. I would be allergic to carrying that sort of money around. Far too easy to be robbed, even in Japan.

Whats the biggest denomination note in Japan, how much paper are we talking here ?

I have to pay my yearly corporate tax bill in cash at the post office. They do not accept bank transfers or credit cards, so from the bank to the post office, I'm walking around with a very large sum in my bag. When I questioned it, I was told, "Everyone does it."

Yes, you are right !!

But it also says the 27 year old was the only one injured?!

80,000 10,000 yen is a lot of paper.

Whoever it was knew they had that much money on them. Probably an inside job.

I remember a time when you could walk around Tokyo with large sums of money, and feel totally secure.

Sadly, Japan is not what it used to be, and nowhere near as safe as it used to be.

Times change.

Perhaps, just perhaps, Japan should join the modern world and start using checks and direct debit instead of cash, just perhaps.

Checks? Modern? In Britain checks are used about as often as horse drawn carriages but US government agencies still insist on paying with checks that are difficult to cash in either Britain or Japan.

Direct debit is in fact very widely used in Japan. Salaries, utility bills, taxes, commuter rail tickets, etc. are handled electronically.

As other have noted, there are many fishy aspects to this story. This kind of thing gets reported not because it is common but because it is uncommon and suspicious.

Pretty good racket there. All they have to do is withdraw a large sum of money; go hide it somewhere, fill a suitcase up with confetti and pay someone to rob them. The insurance pays off the full amount that was 'stolen' and they have just doubled their money with zero investment risk. Just make sure that the ;robbers' give you a black eye to make it all look legit.

@Kenneth Day My immediate reaction is similar as yours. Either an insurance scam or creating a fictional loss for tax purposes. Chances are the money never existed.

The best bit was seeing one of the robbers try to run after the getaway car after his partners in crime decided it would be better to split the money between two, rather than three people.