TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 25-year-old member of the Sumiyoshi-kai yakuza syndicate for allegedly defrauding a 77-year-old woman out of 1 million yen by posing as a police officer, reports TBS News (May 22)
Ryusei Hamada, a member of a gang affiliated with the Kohei-ikka — a notorious faction within the designated Sumiyoshi-kai crime syndicate — is accused of conspiring with unidentified accomplices to target the victim in late February.
According to investigators, the scammers contacted the woman, a resident of Nakano Ward, pretending to be officers from the Oita Prefectural Police. They successfully tricked her into handing over the cash by feeding her a lie. The caller stated, “We need to inspect your money to determine if you are involved in a crime.”
Police did not reveal whether the gangster admits to the allegations.
Police believe Hamada was working with a ring that specializes in tokushu sagi (specialized fraud). In such an arrangement, members pose on the telephone as police officers or other persons in authority to swindle victims.
Police allege Hamada operated as a “cash collector” in the ring’s hierarchy. He reportedly retrieved the stolen money from a lower-level mule (ukeko) in Shinjuku Ward’s Kabukicho nightlife district.
Following Hamada’s arrest, police raided the office of his affiliated gang. Investigators are now probing the broader connections between the Kohei-ikka and organized specialized fraud operations.
