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All in the family: Woman assisted son in ore ore sagi scams

Motoko Funada
Motoko Funada (TV Asahi)

TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 60-year-old woman who has been accused in the swindling of multiple persons with her son, the leader of a fraud ring who is in custody on suspicion of fraud, reports NHK (Oct. 10).

In August of 2015, Motoko Funada, a 60-year-old resident of Miyazaki City, Miyazaki Prefecture, allegedly used the takkyubin delivery system to fraudulently obtain 4 million yen in cash from a man from Kyoto and a woman in Chiba Prefecture, both aged in their 70s.

Funada, who has been accused of violating the Act on Punishment of Organized Crimes and Control of Crime Proceeds, partially denies the allegations. “I received the money, but I didn’t know what kind of money it was,” the suspect was quoted by the Ueno Police Station.

Police had previously arrested Funada’s son, 31-year-old Masashi, the leader of a fraud group whose members are believed to have fraudulently obtained 1.2 billion yen from elderly victims by posing as relatives in distress on the telephone, a scam known as ore ore sagi, or “it’s me” fraud.

According to police, Motoko is believed to have worked with her son in fraudulently obtaining a total of about 10 million yen in cash from victims since January of 2015.