A Yokohama man in his 80s was swindled out of about ¥50 million by a male caller who said that he was a government official and that the government can pay off what he lost in an investment fraud case in the past, according to Kanagawa Prefectural Police.
The police said Wednesday that the caller, who claimed he was an official of the Consumer Affairs Agency, phoned the victim last October. Later, another man who said he works for a company dealing with the government's repayment called and told the Yokohama resident that his losses would be recovered if he buys the debts of a certain company.
He sent a total of ¥50 million to a private mail box in batches 11 times from last December to May, as instructed.
The victim believed what he was told because he actually lost ¥25 million in another fraud that occurred between September 2011 and April 2013 via the purchase of corporate bonds.
The ¥50 million swindle was detected because the Metropolitan Police Department found the money in a parcel with the man's name on it as the sender, when it raided the operator of the private mail box in yet another fraud case.