Fake cop swindles elderly woman out of ¥49 million in mailbox scam

TOKYO (TR) – An elderly woman was swindled out of approximately 49 million yen after being targeted by a scammer posing as a Tokyo police officer, reports Nippon News Network (Oct. 16).

In late August, the victim, who is in her 80s, received a phone call from a man identifying himself as “Nishino” from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police.

“We need to investigate whether the money in your account is stolen funds from a fraud case, so please withdraw your cash,” the caller instructed her.

Convinced by the ruse, the woman visited ATMs on a near-daily basis to drain her account. The scammer then contacted her again, ordering her to leave the cash outside so it could be “examined” and promising he would return it later.

Following his orders, the victim left bundles of cash near the mailbox of her residence on three separate occasions — first dropping off 19 million yen, followed by 14 million yen, and finally 16 million yen. The staggering total of roughly 49 million yen was swiftly carried off by an unknown individual.

The massive theft finally came to light when the woman read a news article about a similar scam, realized she had been duped, and contacted the actual police for advice.

Authorities are currently tracking the whereabouts of the suspect.

Published in Crime , News and Tokyo

The editorial team at The Tokyo Reporter brings the site's readership the latest news from the under side of Japan.

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东京（TR）——据日本新闻网（10月16日）报道，一名老年妇女被冒充东京警察的骗子骗走了约4900万日元。

8 月下旬，受害者（已年过八旬）接到一个自称是东京警视厅“西野”的男子的电话。

“我们需要调查您账户中的钱是否是诈骗案中的赃款，所以请您取出您的现金，”来电者指示道。

这名女子被骗后，几乎每天都去自动取款机取款，把账户里的钱全部取光。之后，骗子再次联系她，命令她把钱放在外面以便“检查”，并承诺之后会归还。

按照他的指示，受害者三次将成捆的现金放在住所的邮箱附近——第一次放了1900万日元，第二次放了1400万日元，最后一次放了1600万日元。总计约4900万日元的巨款很快被一名身份不明的人拿走。

这起巨额盗窃案最终曝光，是因为该女子读到一篇关于类似骗局的新闻报道，意识到自己被骗了，于是联系了真正的警察寻求帮助。

当局目前正在追踪嫌疑人的下落。

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