TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 27-year-old female nursery school teacher who joined a fraud ring after she was unable to find work due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, reports TBS News (July 9).
In April, a man in his 80s living in Chofu City was falsely told over the telephone by a member of a fraud ring that his “bank cards had been used for fraud.”
Thereafter, Kaori Iwabuchi wore a black suit in posing as a police officer upon her arrival at the man’s residence and collected three bank cards.
She then used the cards to withdraw 1.5 million yen from his accounts via an ATM machine, including one at a convenience store, police said.
Prior to the incident, Iwabuchi was working as a nursery school teacher until the novel coronavirus pandemic caused her income to drop significantly. She then responded to an offer for “high-paying work” with the fraud ring.
“Since I was out of work for more than one month, I sought other work,” the suspect was quoted by police in admitting to the allegations. “I did this other times.”
