Earlier this month, the woman, a company employee in her 50s living in Iida City, was told on telephone by a person claiming to be a “fortune master” that they could provide the winning numbers for the twice-weekly Loto 6 lottery in exchange for a fee.
According to police, the suspects then fraudulently obtained 1 million in cash from the victim.
Police arrested the suspects on Monday. Officers also seized telephones and a register containing about 20,000 names from the ring’s headquarters, located inside a residence in Tokyo’s Nishi Tokyo City.
Between last October and this month, the ring is believed to have used similar means to fraudulently obtain more than 130 million yen from 40 persons nationwide, police said.
Police are seeking the whereabouts of about 10 other persons who are believed to belong to the ring.
