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Mizuho Bank clerk cut, spliced used stamps to make new ones

A Mizuho Bank clerk stuck together pieces of used stamps to forge fakes (Nippon News Network)
A Mizuho Bank clerk stuck together pieces of used stamps to forge fakes (Nippon News Network)

TOKYO (TR) – A male clerk at Mizuho Bank stuck together pieces of used stamps to forge fakes so he could exchange them with real stamps he likely swapped for cash, police said Friday.

Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested Takashi Kobayashi, 57, for allegedly exchanging 30 fake stamps denominated at 350 yen each for 21 real stamps with a face value of 500 yen each at a post office in Chiyoda Ward on September 30, 2016, the Asahi Shimbun reports (Jan. 27).

Kobayashi, who has been accused of fraud and violating the Postal Law, admits to the charges, police said, adding he cut postmarks from stamps and spliced them together with pieces of others to give the impression they were unused.

Post office officials consulted police in October after a clerk used water to peel off one of Kobayashi’s stamps from paper he stuck them to when it fell apart in pieces, Jiji Press reported (Jan. 27).

Police seized several thousand used stamps, likely bought through online auctions, from Kobayashi’s home, as well as post office receipts of the stamp exchanges.

Kobayashi likely swapped the fraudulently obtained stamps for cash, police said.

A spokesperson from the Mizuho Financial Group, which controls Mizuho Bank, said the “facts of the case are being confirmed.”