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Chiba cops bust horse racing tip sheet for fraud

Takayoshi Otawa
Takayoshi Otawa

CHIBA (TR) – Chiba Prefectural Police have busted a company running a horse racing tip service for defrauding tens of thousands of customers across the nation, reports NHK (Jan. 14).

Over a one-year period ending in May of last year, the company, which is based in Ichikawa City, is alleged to have swindled four customers in multiple locations, including Tokyo and Chiba Prefecture, out of two million yen by falsely promising race predictions “with a high probability of success.”

Police arrested the heads of the company, Takayoshi Otawa, 41, and his wife, Satomi, 36, and 11 other people connected to the case on charges of fraud.

The company claimed to have horse racing experts with long histories of success on staff. Subscribers to the service paid membership and information fees.

When customers lodged complaints about the results, the company supplied fake excuses, such as a prognosticator had been involved in an automobile accident and could not perform sufficient research.

Over a 10-year period, the company is believed to have swindled approximately 40,000 people nationwide out of 2.9 billion yen.