SHIGA (TR) – Shiga Prefectural Police have launched an investigation after a 51-year-old civil servant was duped out of approximately 7.1 million yen by scammers posing as police officers and delivery workers, reports the Kyoto Shimbun (Aug. 20).
Law enforcement believes the case falls under tokushu sagi (specialized fraud). In such a case, a person poses as a public official or police officer on the telephone to con a victim.
According to the Otsu Kita Police Station, the scam began on August 13 when the victim received a phone call at his home from a man claiming to be a courier. The caller told the man, “A package sent in your name contains health insurance cards belonging to other people.”
The victim was then directed to a messaging app, where he was urged to accept a video call from a man posing as an officer from the Fukuoka Prefectural Police.
The bogus officer threatened the civil servant, telling him, “An arrest warrant has been issued for you. If you are hiding cash at home, you will be suspected of fraud.”
Yielding to the intimidation, the victim was contacted again on the 16th and instructed that a “contactless handover” of his funds was necessary to clear his name. Following the fraudsters’ directions, the man took a Letter Pack envelope stuffed with roughly 7.1 million yen in cash and left it inside a designated public restroom, police said.
