A Japanese man accused of defrauding an individual in Japan over the phone from his base on the outskirts of Bangkok has been extradited to Japan where he was arrested, investigative sources said Wednesday.
The arrest of Daisuke Ogawa, 49, is the latest in a series of cases in which scammer groups were found to be targeting Japanese victims from locations in Southeast Asia.
Ogawa arrived at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo at around 5:50 a.m. Wednesday after being released from detention in Thailand.
Ogawa is suspected of defrauding a man in his 70s in Gifu Prefecture in September by providing false information over the phone and tricking him into sending a cash card via postal mail, according to the sources.
The prefectural police suspect that Ogawa's role in the scheme was to make phone calls.
Ogawa was one of two Japanese nationals among four individuals arrested by Thai police on Nov. 8 for their alleged role in a phone scam targeting people in Japan. The two others arrested were Taiwanese.
The four men allegedly posed as bank staff or police officers to trick individuals in Japan into transferring funds to designated bank accounts, with tactics including making false claims about debts.
In a separate case, 25 Japanese nationals were arrested in Japan following extradition from Cambodia where they ran a similar phone scam operation.