Man held after faking kidnapping and demanding ransom from his mother

Monday 14th September, 09:21 AM JST

AICHI —

A 31-year-old man was arrested Sunday for obstructing police in the line of duty, after he allegedly phoned his mother claiming to be a man who had kidnapped him and demanding a 30 million yen ransom.

Police said Masakazu Morita, an employee at a waste collection business, called his 66-year-old mother at around 2 a.m. Sunday morning, pretending to be a man who had kidnapped her son, and demanded that she transfer 30 million yen to his company.

His mother, who had filed a missing person’s report on Saturday after Masakazu did not come home Friday night, called police to tell them of the ransom demand, adding she thought the man sounded like her son at one point, and that her son was being held in Gifu City.

Gifu police spent five hours searching for Masakazu before finding him in his car parked near a river. Police said he has admitted to making the ransom demand, telling them he did it because he thought his misappropriation of company funds was about to be discovered, and because he wanted to cause some trouble for the company.

News reports

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Latest 15 of 24 Total Comments Show All

tokyochris at 11:36 AM JST - 14th September

surprised he didn't just claim to be drunk
TokyoLurker at 12:05 PM JST - 14th September

stupidly funny.
Yelnats at 12:44 PM JST - 14th September

This is a kind of guy I would like to hang out with.
khemet at 12:55 PM JST - 14th September

This should be in the "Dumbset Idea Ever" column.
fishy at 01:09 PM JST - 14th September

oh my my my...
moonknightskye at 01:12 PM JST - 14th September

very brilliant idea, yeah should be placed in "Dumbset Idea Ever"
Wakarimasen at 01:37 PM JST - 14th September

Oki Lebowskanaka.........
stirfry at 02:17 PM JST - 14th September

the word 'mother' should be replaced, in every story, with the word 'mommy'
animallover at 05:17 PM JST - 14th September

Very funny, it reminds me of the famous ore ore!!!
Nessie at 05:48 PM JST - 14th September

Otherwise known as ore-ore ore-ore sagi.
Ranger_Miffy at 08:43 PM JST - 14th September

Points for originality. Points deducted for sheer lameitude.
rewetzel1 at 11:43 PM JST - 14th September

key points

31-year-old man

who (mother) had filed a missing person’s report on Saturday **after Masakazu did not come home **Friday night,
Crimsonsil at 10:37 AM JST - 15th September

Worrying your mom like that for money is pretty low.
mnemosyne23 at 11:28 PM JST - 15th September

What on earth was he going to do with the money? Try to put back what he misappropriated from the company? Or make a runner for the border? I don't get it.

Also, if you're going to try and fox some money out of your family, don't be an idiot and sit in YOUR OWN car while you wait for them to show up with the cash.

Chalk this one up in the "Stupidest Criminals of the Week" column.
bamboohat at 09:44 AM JST - 16th September

And people think crime is so low here because of the effectiveness of the j-cops.

Ok, who did this?

Ore! Ore!