TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police last week arrested a suspected member of a fraud ring that operated in central Thailand until it was busted five years ago.
On December 17, police arrested Kento Yoshida, 28, in Osaka City on suspicion of fraud. Police have not revealed whether the suspect has admitted to the charges, reports NHK (Dec. 18).
Five years ago, Yoshida allegedly sent false e-mails to a woman in her 50s in Fukui Prefecture and a woman in her teens in Nagano Prefecture, claiming that they had not paid their fees for a web site. He then allegedly defrauded them out of a total of about 500,000 yen in electronic money.
The fraud ring operated in Pattaya, central Thailand, until it was busted five years ago. Yoshida is believed to have been the phone operator.

Yoshida was in neighboring Laos at the time of the bust. To evade arrest, he returned to Japan.
Based on information that Yoshida was living with an acquaintance in Osaka City, investigators from Tokyo Metropolitan Police apprehended him.
The group carried out a type of fraud classified as tokushu sagi (“special fraud”). Thus far, the number of victims totals 26 and losses amount to around 300 million yen. Police have made 28 arrests in the case.