TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested four members of fraud ring that operated out of a business hotel in Shibuya Ward, reports TV Asahi (Sept. 28).
According to police, Takuya Koishi, 33, and the three other male suspects allegedly swindled a 74-year-old woman living in Setagaya Ward out of 1 million yen.
In collecting an ATM card from the woman, one of the suspects posed as a representative from a government office on the telephone in falsely telling her that she must undertake a procedure in order to be eligible for an insurance premium. The card was then used to withdraw the 1 million yen in cash from an ATM machine.
All of the suspects deny the allegations. “I do not recall [the matter],” one of the suspects said, according to police.
During a raid of a room at the hotel used by the ring, police seized a manual outlining how to carry out frauds, a register of names and cash.
Police suspect the ring was behind the swindling of around 170 persons in the capital out of 230 million yen.
