TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested six members of a fraud ring, including two members of a criminal syndicate, over the alleged swindle of an elderly woman, reports Fuji News Network (Feb. 5).
According to police, Yuji Sato, a 49-year-old upper-level member of the Sumiyoshi-kai, worked with accomplices to defraud the woman, a 69-year-old resident of Chiba Prefecture, out of 1.3 million yen in 2017.
In carrying out the ruse, one member of the ring posed as a police officer. After obtaining the woman’s bank card, the funds were withdrawn from an ATM machine.
Sato denies the allegations. “I do not clearly recall [the matter],” the suspect was quoted by police.
Police believe the ring used similar scams to swindle other persons out of a total of around 60 million yen.
In addition to Sato, one other suspect is also a member of the Sumiyoshi-kai. The gangsters are believed to have headed the ring.
On Wednesday morning, officers raided an office of the Sumiyoshi-kai in search of evidence in the case.
