JAPAN: Swindlers took ¥120 million from a 70-year-old woman

YAMAGUCHI, Japan (The Japan Times - Kyodo), August 19, 2008: Aichi Prefectural Police officers arrested four men Monday for allegedly swindling some ¥6.8 billion from people by promising the principal and high returns for a financial investment. Norifumi Hamasaki, 44, from Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, and three others were arrested for illegally collecting money from about 550 investors from 30 prefectures, including Tokyo, Hokkaido, Iwate, Ibaraki, Osaka, Kyoto and Okinawa, beginning in 2001, the police said. Hamasaki attracted investors by claiming to be the president of the fund management company Future World. Police suspect the firm was established only for the purpose of bilking investors. The other three arrested are Tetsuo Hara, 48, from Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, and Hiroyuki Watanabe, 45, and Shinji Wakimizu, 44, both from Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture. They were arrested for allegedly collecting about ¥120 million from a 70-year-old woman in Ehime Prefecture and three others by promising them between 5 percent and 12 percent interest on their investments between November 2004 and November 2006. However, interest payments to them stopped at the end of 2006 and they were unable to contact the firm. (C) The Japan Times