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Tokyo cops: Fraud ring sent 100,000 fax sheets in loan scam

Masaki Komatsu
Masaki Komatsu

TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have busted a three-person fraud ring that sent roughly 100,000 fax sheets to prospective victims of a loan scam, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Sept. 8).

Earlier this month, the suspects allegedly received 260,000 yen as a commission fee for a loan of two million yen to be provided to a 66-year-old man in Hirakata City, Osaka Prefecture after he received information via unsolicited fax. In the end, the loan was not extended.

Police subsequently arrested Masaki Komatsu, a 36-year-old resident of Yashio City, Saitama Prefecture, and two other persons on charges of fraud. Komatsu and one other suspect admit to the charges while the third person denies the allegations.

Since May, the suspects are believed to have used a proxy service to send information on loans, including rates of interest, via fax to 100,000 small and medium-sized enterprises. Persons who replied to the solicitations were told that “a commission fee is necessary,” according to TV Asahi (Sept. 8).

The three suspects are believed to have been members of a group that provided instructions on how to carry out the ruse. An investigation into the operations of the group is now underway.