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Nagano cops arrest ex-post office manager in ¥900 million scam

Machiko Minamizawa
Police have arrested former post office branch manager Machiko Minamizawa on charges of fraud

NAGANO (TR) – Nagano Prefectural Police on Thursday arrested a former post office chief at a branch in Komoro City for defrauding customers out of nearly 900 million yen in an investment scam that promised high rates of return, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Nov. 17).

Between October of 2014 and February of last year, Machiko Minamizawa, 67, allegedly swindled a man, aged in his 60s, out of 8.1 million yen by falsely promising “a 10 percent return over six months” via the Japan Post Bank, which is a part of the state-owned conglomerate Japan Post Holdings.

Minamizawa, who has been charged with fraud, admits to the allegations.

In October of last year, the Shinetsu office of Japan Post announced that an internal investigation had revealed Minamizawa’s scam, which swindled around 180 persons out of 890 million yen.

The racket emerged when one of the victims visited another branch to question the validity of Minamizawa’s offered interest rate, which was hundreds of times more than that offered by other financial institutions.

Minamizawa became the branch manager in 1991. She was fired in April of last year.