HIROSHIMA (TR) — In a bizarre twist, police in Hiroshima City have arrested a 69-year-old man for fraud after he was splashed in the face with an unknown orange liquid, an incident that inadvertently led officers to uncover a massive cash scam.
Atsuo Seki, a resident of Osaka City’s Nishinari Ward, is accused of defrauding a 57-year-old woman out of 13 million yen in cash on April 16, media reported.
According to investigators, Seki conspired with an unidentified accomplice to send the victim a fraudulent message that read, “Congratulations on your stock allocation. A cash deposit is required for the payment to be completed smoothly”.
Posing as an investment company representative, Seki met the woman at a local restaurant and successfully collected the 13 million yen.
However, his getaway was abruptly halted. Just ten minutes after the exchange, while walking down the street, an unidentified man approached Seki and hurled an “orange liquid” directly into his face.
When police arrived at the scene, they began questioning Seki as the victim of a street assault. But as officers took his statement and dug deeper into his activities that day, the details of the massive cash handover came to light, exposing the “victim” as the perpetrator of a major fraud.
Seki was promptly taken into custody. Police are now searching for his accomplice in the scam and attempting to track down the mystery assailant who threw the liquid, investigating whether the bizarre attack was a falling out among thieves or connected to the stolen cash.
