Police arrested a yakuza who headed a telephone fraud ring Monday on suspicion of bilking an elderly woman out of 2 million yen last year.
The ring headed by Satoshi Nagasawa, 24, of no fixed address, allegedly telephoned the home of a 75-year-old woman in the city of Kagoshima last June and told her that her daughter, an elementary school teacher, injured one of her students through corporal punishment.
Identifying himself as the principal, Nagasawa told the woman that her daughter "needs 2 million yen as a settlement fee," and that the school would give the money to the family of the student as apology money, police said.
The elderly woman followed Nagasawa's instructions, believing the story was true, according to police.
Although the Kagoshima case is the immediate charge against Nagasawa, who is a member of the Yamaguchi-gumi underworld syndicate, police believe the total amount of money his ring fraudulently obtained exceeded tens of millions of yen.
Scam artists have become notorious for phone frauds, generally targeting seniors, often by identifying themselves only as "It's me," implying they are a loved one of the victim and in need of quick cash to rectify a bogus problem.