TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested three persons who met online in the swindling of multiple persons out of more than 40 million yen last year, reports NHK (June 9).
In September, Seita Kogata, 40, Yasuhiro Yoshida, 55, and Hideki Tonooka, 51, allegedly conspired to pose as a police officer in falsely telling a woman, an 86-year-old resident of Kanagawa Prefecture, over the telephone that her bank card was being abused by a third party.
After obtaining the card from the woman, the suspects withdrew 500,000 yen in cash from an ATM.
Kogata, who also has been accused of withdrawing 1 million yen from the account of the woman separately, admits to the allegations. Yoshida denies the charges, telling police he only drove a car used in the crime, according to Fuji News Network (June 9).
The members of the group met one another on an underground internet site for persons seeking part-time work to earn large amounts of money, police said.
Over a three-month period ending in September of last year, the suspects are believed to have carried out similar crimes covering about 20 cases in which the damage totaled 42 million yen.
