2 elderly people conned on 1st day of 'bank transfer fraud elimination month' despite police presence at ATMs

Friday 03rd October, 04:09 PM JST

TOKYO —

The Metropolitan Police Department on Thursday said two cases of bank transfer fraud were reported in Tokyo on Wednesday which was the first day of “bank transfer fraud elimination month,” in which police officers were posted at about 1,000 ATMs in the Tokyo area, according to media reports.

The two cases occurred while police officers were standing nearby, but they were not aware of who the elderly victims were talking to on their cell phones, NHK reported. The two victims, bother elderly citizens, transferred 3.5 million yen to a bank account after receiving calls from persons purporting to be their relatives, asking for emergency funds, police said.

In two other unrelated cases, a group of men visited the homes of two women, aged 86 and 74, in Tokyo and stole 2 million yen by pretending to be delivery workers bringing items from their relatives.

An MPD official said, “These cases are clearly a challenge against our campaign. Although it makes the police look bad, we disclosed them as warning to potential victims.” He also cautioned elderly people to make sure the person who calls them is really a relative, by calling them back.

Latest 15 of 25 Total Comments Show All

gogogo at 07:17 PM JST - 3rd October

Take the phones away from old people, it's obviously the root of the problem. Give them medical alerts and a GPS instead.
Schoolboyerror at 08:56 PM JST - 3rd October

I'm afraid the clueless naivety among many of the locals - especially the older generation - will always make them easy prey for con artists. A few months ago on TV there was a documentary about a guy who had been scammed by a "girlfriend" who pretended he had made her pregnant. He himself was the victim of a fairly elaborate and well-planned fraud. His parents, on the other hand, were pushovers. The girl had never met them before, but she just turned up at their house one day, anounced that she was carrying their son's baby and without even checking with him, they gave her 400 000 yen!

Rather than station cops around ATMs, there should be a campaign to educate old people that the crime-free Japan they thought they had is gone forever (if it ever existed at all) and that the place is now as full of crooks as the rest of the world.
Nippon5 at 10:03 PM JST - 3rd October

there should be a campaign to educate old people that the crime-free Japan they thought they had is gone forever

Scamming old folks isnt a Japanese thing, its a world thing.. As people get older they try hard not to seem they are getting older, so if they dont remember a face or a name they try to act like they do so no one will think they are forgetting, or they just dont remember well. Blaming it on the old folks is like blaming a newborn for what its mother does, it just isnt right. I have seen both of my grandmothers get scammed by someone (one was a stranger the other was a family member) and they just didnt understand that the person was taking advantage of them, not before not during and not after...... Its truely sad that people prey on the weak, but it is the way of most predators......

The cops are use less, you have to set up their account so they have to go inside for anything over 50000 yen
romulus3 at 10:17 PM JST - 3rd October

stupid old goats. It would not surprise me if it was actually their nieces and nephews, or grandchildren who were ripping them off. How do the crims know they have cash? Inside job, thats how.
WilliB at 11:14 PM JST - 3rd October

" The two cases occurred while police officers were standing nearby, but they were not aware of who the elderly victims were talking to on their cell phones "

Classic! We could have told them. What a ridiculous symbolic exercise.
Wottock_Hunt at 11:15 PM JST - 3rd October

Surely, if these are electronic transfers, the recipient can be traced in a moment? But what was that idiom about x and his money are soon parted?

Just as well we have to revere these people for being so wise, eh?
BlackFlag at 12:09 AM JST - 4th October

bet they already gave a few million to the old "ore! Ore!" shysters
bushlover at 09:05 AM JST - 4th October

I bet the cops are the ones who do it. The cops at the ATMs were there checking that the transfers were being made.

Good story about the pregnant girlfriend Schoolboyerror. I think we could do something like this saying we are their son's gay boyfriend and am moving into town to be closer to him. that is unless I had more money to move to Tokyo....
CavemanLawyer at 09:47 AM JST - 4th October

Why not limit ATM transfers to a much smaller amount, say 100,000 Yen?

How about just for those who are over 60? I see no reason to burden us all because some old people are far too trusting.

Another campaign idea would be for relatives to take more responsibility for the oldies' bank accounts. Sure, some might get ripped off by their own relatives, but its more traceable. --Cirroc
BBLeo at 03:16 PM JST - 4th October

You can call it as 'ATMPHOBIA,' which is now all over the world. You are not secured with cash and now even with plastic card. The two cases occurred while police officers were standing nearby... What’s wrong with your cosp Japan? Are they just looking for a good legs walking around, or short skirts perhaps? Their eyes should be on ATMs, constantly. That is part of their duty; to protect public, bank and ATM machines. 'Is that right?'
WilliB at 04:46 PM JST - 4th October

Wottock Hunt:

" Surely, if these are electronic transfers, the recipient can be traced in a moment? "

Traced where? The scammers open bank accounts with fake names. That is course where this scam should addressed. And not by putting lots Inspector Closeaus next to ATMs.
thepro at 06:32 PM JST - 4th October

God, what a waste of manpower. What on Earth could these cops do anyway?
bushlover at 11:11 PM JST - 4th October

Freeze bank accounts that are the recipients of money via fraud. Is this too easy or what? But in Japan it'd take an act of Parliament and we all know how slow that goes in Japan.
Schoolboyerror at 12:42 AM JST - 5th October

Nippon5, of course ripping off the elderly happens everywhere. I just think that Japanese old people are particularly easy targets with the view a lot of them still hold that Japanese is virtually crime-free and the crime there is here is committed by foreigners.
Nessie at 10:03 AM JST - 5th October

Freeze bank accounts that are the recipients of money via fraud. Is this too easy or what?

Any time you start talking about freezing bank accounts, the politcal elites get nervous.