Press "Enter" to skip to content

Arrest for fraud follows man’s failure to fulfill writing request

TOKYO (TR) – With personal computers, smartphones and tablets now more common than ever, many may consider the actual writing of kanji characters to be of diminished importance.

But for one man, now in custody for fraud, he learned that is not the case, as TBS News (July 23) reports.

On July 7, Hayato Tsuboi, of no known occupation, posed a police officer upon his arrival at the residence of a man in his 90s in Fuchu City.

After collecting five bank cards from the man, Tsuboi withdrew 2 million yen in cash in defrauding him.

“I have nothing to say,” Tsuboi told police in commenting on the allegations.

Hayato Tsuboi (Twitter)

Tsuboi’s undoing came during his visit to the man’s residence. Upon his arrival, he claimed to be a detective from a division specializing in tokushu sagi, in which victims are targeted over the telephone.

When the man asked that Tsuboi write down his contact information on a memo pad, the suspect incorrectly wrote the kanji characters for detective (keiji). He also could only muster one of the two characters for fraud (sagi).

Sensing something was wrong, the man contacted police the next day, which led to Tsuboi’s arrest.