TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 34-year-old man for allegedly stealing nearly 1 million yen from a mentally disabled male acquaintance by using the acquaintance’s ATM card, reports TV Asahi (Sept. 8).
Police arrested Hiroshi Muta, 34, on allegedly making his acquaintance, aged in his 30s, obtain an ATM card through a consumer finance firm in March before stealing it to withdraw 700,000 yen.
“I’ll hold onto this for you since it’s dangerous if you keep it,” the suspect reportedly said in carrying out the ruse.
Muta has admitted to the charges. “He has a disability, so I thought I could deceive him,” police quoted Muta as saying.
Muta, who met the acquaintance through work, invited him to go to a restaurant and made him create the card through an automated machine via the consumer finance company under the guise of creating a membership card for the restaurant.
The suspect then made 15 cash withdrawals from the acquaintance’s account over a month and used the money to repay debts and for other purposes, police said.