TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have busted a fraud ring whose members are believed to have posed as money lenders in fraudulently obtaining bank cards, reports TV Asahi (Aug. 3).
According to police, Katsunobu Hoshino, 29, and Zen Kaneko, 34, are among the suspects accused of fraudulently obtaining two bank cards from a woman, aged in her 20s, by telling her she was eligible for a loan under special financing conditions. “If you send the cards, the amount you are seeking will be deposited into your account,” one of the suspects told the woman.
Hoshino denies the allegations.
Police believe that the suspects fraudulently obtained about 300 cards from victims across the country using similar means. The cards were then sold to other fraud groups that over the past six months withdrew a total of about 50 million yen from the accounts of the victims.