KYOTO (TR) – Kyoto Prefectural Police have arrested a former Osaka Prefectural Police officer on suspicion of attempted fraud for allegedly claiming to be a police officer in an attempt to defraud a man of his cash cards, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Oct. 17).
Between 6:00 p.m. and 7:50 p.m. on September 30, Takehito Kawase, 40, allegedly conspired with an unidentified individual to make false phone calls to the home of an unemployed man, 76, in Kyoto City’s Fushimi Ward.
The caller claimed that “cash has been fraudulently withdrawn” from the man’s savings account and that police officers will be dispatched to stop the withdrawals.
Personally posing as a police officer, Kawase visited the man’s home and collected five cash cards. “We’ll cut the magnetic strips off your cards to render them unusable,” the suspect said.
He gained the man’s trust by claiming to be from the “Fushimi Police Station Crime Prevention Division” and showed him an image of his police identification card with his photo on his smartphone screen.
Kawase cut the cards with scissors to render them unusable, but avoided the magnetic strips. The man became suspicious and called police.
On October 6, officers arrested Kawase. During questioning, Kawase introduced himself as a “former police officer.”
Kyoto Prefectural Police contacted Osaka Prefectural Police based on information from a smartphone and other items seized by him. Osaka Prefectural Police confirmed that he was a former police officer. He is currently a re-bar worker.
Regarding the allegations, he said, “I’ll think about it carefully before I speak.”
A former Osaka cop posed as Kyoto cop in carrying out a fraud in September (X)Scams on rise
According to the Kyoto Prefectural Police Special Fraud Unit, scams impersonating police officers are on the rise. Such scams are referred to as tokushu sagi, meaning specialized fraud. Perpetrators of this crime target a victim over the telephone and impersonate an authority figure or relative to defraud money from them.
As of the end of September this year, the total amount of losses in the prefecture due to police impersonation was 1.45287 billion yen, just under 90 percent of all special fraud cases. The figure for the same period last year was 565.42 million yen.
A police official urged caution. “The same trend is occurring nationwide,” the official said.
The methods carried out by the fraudsters include saying such things as, “You are the subject of an investigation and may be arrested. We are taking custody to investigate your assets.” They might also claim, “Your cash card has been used in a criminal activity. We will replace it with a new one.” In many case, they make it seem as if the victim has been involved in a crime.
AloJapan.com