TOKYO (TR) – Two suspected members of a fraud ring attempted to destroy evidence upon a raid of their headquarters in Nerima Ward, police said last week, reports Nippon News Network (Jan. 25).
On January 23, officers seized mobile telephones, computers, telephones and lists of graduates from high schools in the Kanto area, which are believed to have been used to target victims.
Police also arrested Kazuomi Seo and Hajimu Kamimori, both 28, on suspicion of fraud. Both suspects deny the allegations, police said.
During the raid, the suspects smashed two smartphones, which police suspect was an attempt to destroy evidence.
Officers conducted the raid in search of evidence connected to the alleged swindle of an elderly woman in Adachi Ward earlier this month.
In carrying out the ruse, a member of the ring posed as the son of the woman on the telephone and told her that he needed money to cover for documents from his company that he had lost. The suspects then defrauded her out of 1 million yen in cash.
The ring is believed to have swindled about 100 persons in the Tokyo metropolitan area of a combined 400 million yen, police said.
