Crime 80 'specialised fraud' cases result in 1.1bn yen damage

[thomas]

Tokyo police detained two men, one of them identified as a member of the Sumiyoshi-kai syndicate, on suspicion of tricking another man into sending money to an empty apartment in the city last year. Investigators said that in July 2024, 44-year-old Masahiro Yamashita, a senior figure in the Sumiyoshi-kai and 35-year-old Hironobu Iwakiri are believed to have worked together to defraud a man in his sixties from Shizuoka Prefecture of 3 million yen. The victim was allegedly told over the phone that his device had infected another person's phone with a virus and that he needed to pay an insurance fee to cover the damage. Following the call, he was instructed to send the money to a vacant property in Nerima Ward. The suspects then arranged a viewing of the apartment through a real estate agent they knew, using the opportunity to have someone retrieve the cash.

The scam is referred to as tokushū sagi (特殊詐欺), meaning specialised fraud. Perpetrators of this crime target a victim over the telephone and impersonate an authority figure or relative to defraud them. Police are investigating the possibility that Yamashita and his associate may have been involved in around 80 cases of this type of fraud using similar methods, resulting in losses of approximately 1.1 billion yen. Police said the two suspects made reservations for viewings of vacant residences on a website used by real estate agents through a male realtor, who was indicted on charges of aiding and abetting attempted fraud in a separate case. It is believed they misused information, such as the locations of key boxes containing spare keys. Another person who cooperated with them then received the stolen money.

Yakuza used vacant Tokyo apartment for swindle of ¥3 million - TokyoReporter

Tokyo police have arrested two men, including a member of a criminal syndicate, for allegedly deceiving a third man into sending 3 million yen in cash to a vacant apartment in the capital

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Tokushū sagi (特殊詐欺)

The term tokushū sagi (特殊詐欺) refers to "special fraud" crimes in Japan — a broad category of scams in which perpetrators trick victims, often by phone, into transferring money or handing over cash. These crimes typically target elderly people and rely on impersonation or manipulation rather than physical theft. Typical examples include ore ore sagi ("it's me" scams), where someone calls pretending to be a relative in distress and asks for money; bank transfer fraud, where victims are falsely told that their bank accounts have been compromised; and refund schemes, in which callers impersonate government or utility workers to claim they are arranging reimbursements. Since the early 2000s, tokushū sagi has become one of Japan's most prevalent forms of financial crime, prompting police to introduce awareness campaigns and tighter banking procedures to protect potential victims.