Two people arrested in the UAE - Could they be "kick-starters" in a special scam? - Metropolitan Police Department

On the 27th, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's Special Investigation Division arrested Kouhiro Sano (25) and Sho Okauchi (26), both of whose addresses and occupations are unknown, on suspicion of fraud after making a false phone call pretending to be his son and defrauding him of cash. He has not made it clear whether he approves or disapproves. The two were taken into custody in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and arrived at Narita Airport on the same day.

According to the division, members of the Kohei family of the Sumiyoshi-kai, a designated organized crime group, were in charge of directing the incidents, and the damage is estimated to have been around 170 cases in 10 prefectures between April 2022 and May 2023, totaling around 570 million yen.

Sano was arrested on suspicion of conspiring with his associates to defraud two women in their 70s and 80s in Tokyo's Edogawa and Setagaya wards from October to November 2021, posing as their sons and asking them to ``give cash to my boss's son,'' a total of 39 million yen in cash. In December of the same year, Okauchi is suspected of defrauding a woman in her 70s in Hanamigawa Ward, Chiba City out of 2 million yen in cash using a similar method.

At the time, both suspects were believed to have been traveling from business hotel to business hotel, and left for Malaysia in March 2023. In September of this year, he was detained by local authorities in the UAE, where he was staying.