TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 35-year-old man for allegedly using stolen credit cards to purchase various tickets that he later sold, reports TBS News (Apr. 2).
In January, Noboru Hagiwara, of no known occupation, allegedly used a credit card in another person’s name at a convenience store in Chiyoda Ward to purchase 30 tickets for an art exhibition.
The suspect then resold the tickets for 39,000 yen at a ticket shop in Taito Ward.
“I made at least 50 million yen a year doing this,” the suspect was quoted by police.
According to police, the credit card was purchased for 10,000 yen from an Uzbekistan national who is a member of a theft ring. Members of that ring work as pickpockets inside train carriages, including the JR Yamanote Line.
Police are Hagiwara reselling tickets on around 60 occasions. During those transactions, he used the pseudonym “Kudo.”
