Earlier this month, a man, aged in his 50s and living in Fukushima Prefecture, was falsely told over the telephone by a member of the ring that he had accumulated past-due fees from browsing an adult site. He was then swindled out of 500,000 yen.
According to police, Takuya Kubota, 35, his wife, 27-year-old Chie, and one other person, were involved in arranging the paperwork for the contract for the residence that was used to carry out the scam.
Police believe the suspects helped arrange for five residences, which they referred to as hako-ya (feces house), to be used for the same purpose. Investigators are now attempting to determine whether the suspects received a portion of the revenue from the rings.
