TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has arrested two ringleaders of a fraud syndicate suspected of swindling more than 1.5 billion yen from victims under the guise of “security deposits” for fake side jobs, reports Fuji News Network (Sep. 18).
Satoru Abe, 37, and Mamoru Fukushima, 31, are accused of defrauding a woman out of approximately 500,000 yen worth of cryptocurrency in November 2025.
According to police, the suspects and their accomplices telephoned the victim after she applied on their fraudulent website, falsely claiming, “A security deposit is required for you to undergo the screening process.”
Investigators believe Abe and Fukushima acted as the directors of the operation, tasked with managing the illicitly obtained funds. Police have not disclosed whether the two men have admitted to the charges.
Authorities are now working to unravel the full scope of the syndicate’s crimes. The group is believed to have used the same modus operandi to dupe roughly 1,000 people nationwide — ranging in age from their teens to their 70s — netting a total of over 1.5 billion yen.
