TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 62-year-old man who is suspected of swindling dozens of persons through the sale of fake newspaper subscriptions, a crime he has admitted to committing many times in the past, reports TV Asahi (Mar. 6).
Last July, Shinichi Miyata allegedly posed as the manager of a newspaper office in Arakawa Ward in collecting 30,000 yen from a woman in her 70s in Arakawa Ward. “You haven’t renewed your contract,” he falsely told the woman.
“I did this over 100 times,” Miyata was quoted by police in admitting to the allegations.
After collecting the money from the woman, the suspect told her that he would return with a receipt. The woman then visited the newspaper office after he failed to return.
Other cases
The incident is not the first involving Miyata. In 2015, Tokyo police listed him on a wanted list. On February 28 that year, he used the same ruse to scam another person in Koto Ward out of 12,000 yen.
The following year, police arrested Miyata for the Koto case. During questioning, he told admitted to the allegations. “Over a 20-year period, I did this 2,000 times,” he said.
At that time, police estimated that Miyata used the ruse to collect 2.3 million yen from about 200 people from 2010 to 2015.
