TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested members of a criminal syndicate who are believed to have operated a fraud ring that swindled dozens of persons out of 100 million yen, reports the Mainichi Shimbun (Oct. 3).
According to police, Yukiharu Fujii, a 56-year-old executive in the Osaka-based Nakajima-gumi, a second-tier gang of the Yamaguchi-gumi, headed the ring, which is believed to have swindled at least 85 persons nationwide out of around 100 million yen between October of last year and May.
Police have also arrested Shingo Tsurumi, a 53-year-old member of the same gang, and five other persons.
In a specific case cited by police, a man aged in his 70s and living in the capital was told over the telephone by a person posing a bank employee that he was eligible for a medical expense refund in February. The suspects later pulled 1.5 million yen from an account belonging to the man via an ATM machine.
Fujii, who has been accused of electronic fraud, denies the allegations, police said.
Police are now investigating whether the proceeds from the ring were funneled to the Nakajima-gumi.
