TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo police have arrested a 34-year-old man believed to be the ringleader of a massive telecommunications fraud syndicate that swindled victims out of more than 2.2 billion yen.
A portion of the ill-gotten proceeds are suspected of flowing to organized crime, investigative sources revealed, reports NHK (Nov. 2).
Narito Sasaki, an unemployed resident of Tokyo’s Chuo Ward whose occupation is officially listed as unknown, was arrested on suspicion of fraud and related offenses.
According to police, the gang targeted four elderly women aged in their 80s and 90s living in Tokyo in March of last year.
Syndicate callers impersonated city hall officials over the telephone, falsely telling the women that they were eligible to receive government benefit handouts. Sasaki and his associates subsequently conned the victims out of their cash cards and illicitly withdrew approximately 5.6 million yen.
The Metropolitan Police Department has already apprehended around 40 members of the fraud network. Forensic data analysis of seized smartphones pointed to Sasaki as the syndicate’s top boss, with evidence indicating he oversaw operations and dictated payouts to underlings.
Police also arrested Hironori Takahashi, a 40-year-old unemployed man from Chiba Prefecture, on suspicion of receiving roughly 300,000 yen of the stolen funds.
Investigators suspect Takahashi served as a vital liaison between the fraud ring and the underworld. The MPD is actively probing allegations that a share of the roughly 2.2 billion yen scammed by the syndicate over a two-year period ending last year was funneled directly to yakuza gangs.
