PHILIPPINES (TR) – Authorities here have apprehended a male Japanese national who is suspected member of the so-called “Luffy” fraud ring.
Philippine authorities announced on January 20 that they had arrested suspect Yuhei Tsukuda, 28, in Pampanga province near the capital Manila.
An arrest warrant had been issued for Tsukuda in Japan on suspicion of posing as a police officer, stealing cash cards from victims and fraudulently withdrawing more than 700,000 yen in cash.

The Luffy group is named after the popular manga for boys. It specializes in tokushu sagi, which is a type of fraud carried out on the telephone by a caller impersonating an authority figure or a victim’s relative.
Tsukuda is believed to be a caller for the “Luffy Group,” a group that repeatedly committed tokushu sagi while based in the Philippines.
Tsukuda is expected to be deported back to Japan. An investigation by police will follow thereafter.