JAPAN: Tokyo ATM blitz fails to curb fraud

. The elderly fall victim to scams as criminals pose as cash-strapped relatives. TOKYO, Japan (Yomiuri Shimbun), October 22, 2008 A massive blitz that saw police officers deployed at automated teller machines(ATMs) - on the lookout for scammers - failed to prevent 16 crimes from being committed under their very noses in the Tokyo metropolitan area. The figure is for the first 14 days of this month. Criminals have been calling mostly elderly victims and posing as cash-strapped relatives to get them to go to ATMs to transfer money to accounts provided by the scammers. October was designated by police forces nationwide as the month to stamp out such scams. Some 6,000 officers were mobilised to monitor ATMs at 12,000 locations across Tokyo. Yet, there were 94 incidents of people being duped into remitting money through ATMs. Sixteen cases occurred in the presence of police officers. Up to 170 million yen (S$2.5 million) was swindled from mostly elderly victims. This is not a major improvement over the 215 million yen taken in 138 incidents in the corresponding period last month. A 59-year-old woman shook off a police officer who warned her about the scam, saying that it was a domestic matter and of no concern to the officer. She then transferred 1.3 million yen to fraudsters. The police had told staff at financial institutions with ATMs to warn senior citizens about the scam. But staff stationed next to machines were unable to prevent 35 cases, which cost victims a total of 40 million yen. Source: AsiaOne Copyright ©2007 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Co.