TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested three men who are suspected in thefts in which they posed as electricians, reports NHK (July 22).
On April 30, Ryota Matsumoto, 28, Shuta Aoyama, 26, and the third suspect visited the residence of a 71-year-old woman living alone in Ome City.
After they falsely told the woman that they were electricians “working on a power outage in the area,” two of them went upstairs with the woman. Meanwhile, the third stole 37,000 yen in cash from her purse on the first floor.
In commenting on the allegations, one suspect said, “I came [to the residence] for reform work.”
According to police, the same ruse was used in 27 known cases in the capital over the first six months of the year.
Police believe that the suspects collected 14 million yen in nine of those cases.
