Police in Okayama City, Okayama Prefecture, have arrested a 21-year-old university student on suspicion of fraud after he allegedly conned a 76-year-old woman out of 3 million yen in cash.
Takeshi Nakamoto, a fourth-year university student from Kyoto City, was arrested on June 11. Police said he is accused of impersonating the son of a 76-year-old woman he did not know, Okayama Broadcasting Co reported.
According to police, Nakamoto called the woman on her cell phone, pretending to be her son and said he had become romantically involved with a female colleague and that her husband had found out. He said that he had to pay 3 million yen in compensation.
Nakamoto told the woman his lawyer’s assistant would meet her on a street in Kita Ward. Nakamoto then showed up, pretending to be the lawyer’s assistant, and took the money.
The fraud was discovered after the woman contacted her real son and realized she had been deceived.
Okayama police identified Nakamoto as the perpetrator from his cell phone and street surveillance camera footage.
Police said Nakamoto has admitted to the charge and claimed he was acted as a money mule for a tokuryu (anonymous, mobile criminal group).
© Japan Today
