Four Vietnamese men and women and a Japanese owner of a convenience store were arrested on suspicion of illegally purchasing cigarettes through stolen credit cards, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department announced on May 15.
The four Vietnamese in their 20s are said to repeatedly have bought cigarettes by illegally using other people’s credit card information at a convenience store, which store owner Mitsuyoshi Ugajin, 50, operates.
It is not known if the suspects have admitted to the allegations.
According to the MPD’s Financial Intelligence Center, the five suspects, in a conspiracy with other people, bought a total of 2,823 boxes of heated tobacco products worth 1.6 million yen ($11,200) by using Apple Pay, an electronic smartphone payment service.
The account, which was linked to other people’s credit card information, was used from Nov. 8 to Nov. 10, 2024, at the Lawson Kabukicho 2 Chome West store in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
It is likely that the credit card information has been stolen through a phishing scam, which lures credit card users into entering their PIN numbers on fake company websites.
OFFLINE PAYMENT SYSTEM UTILIZED
According to police, the Vietnamese suspects maliciously took advantage of an “offline payment” system, which doesn’t require verification from credit card companies under a specific amount.
At the time, 10,000 yen was the set limit for the illegally used credit cards, so the Vietnamese repeatedly bought 17 boxes of cigarettes at 580 yen each, keeping each purchase under the limit at 9,860 yen.
The MPD believes that the group purchased cigarettes worth about 100 million yen for resale from May through November last year at the same store.
Similar incidents of criminal groups illegally using stolen credit card information and buying a large amount of tobacco products at convenience stores have occurred in succession across the country.
ENTERING CASH REGISTER AND BACKROOM
The convenience store owner is accused of facilitating the illegal purchases by providing his store as the venue for the transactions.
According to investigative sources, the arrested Vietnamese suspects had access to the cash register and took cigarettes from the back storeroom to purchase large quantities. They reportedly stayed in the store for about three hours at midnight.
Whenever they illegally bought the cigarettes, the store owner was said to be present.
“The store cooperated in carrying out the crimes, resulting in such abnormal purchases,” the investigative sources said.
The MPD is investigating how the store owner became part of the conspiracy.
An expert warns that, “Each convenience store chain operating company needs to strengthen control over its stores” to prevent these illegal transactions.
Yoshikazu Kimura, a professor at Aichi University whose expertise is in the convenience store industry, said, “It is possible for the headquarters of convenience store franchises to spot these abnormal purchases.”
He said that each company has headquarters that monitor sales data from its stores, including the amounts, times and dates.
“Each headquarters has no choice but to severely supervise its stores to prevent illegal purchases,” Kimura said.
NEED FOR DETECTION SYSTEM
Tomomi Nagai, a chief analyst at Toray Corporate Business Research Inc., who examines business trends in the industry, said, “The headquarters should consider introducing detection systems to identify abnormalities such as purchases of large amounts within a short period by using artificial intelligence or other methods.”
Convenience stores have recently been recognized as locations for crime prevention, offering immediate assistance before fraudulent acts occur and providing a safe refuge for women and children.
“At a time when compliance is required, these incidents will create a negative image of convenience stores. The industry as a whole needs to take measures, such as strengthening identity verification at the register,” Kimura said.
In an interview with The Asahi Shimbun, a Lawson public relations department staffer said, “We take this matter seriously and deeply apologize. We will thoroughly cooperate with the police investigation and try hard to prevent a recurrence.”
The staffer added that the company’s headquarters can keep track of large purchases of products.
“We are consulting with the police depending on the situation,” the staffer added.
(This article was written by Arata Mitsui and Noriki Nishioka.)
AloJapan.com