Apr 30, 2020 (Japan Today) - A woman her 70s living in in Tokyo’s Arakawa Ward became the victim of an apoden, or “telephone appointment,†scam after receiving a call from a man impersonating her older brother, which resulted in her being conned out of 14.2 million yen.
According to police, a man pretending to be the woman’s brother called between April 23 and April 27 and claimed he needed cash after losing a suitcase containing important documents for a job related to the coronavirus, Sankei Shimbun reported. The caller added that a male acquaintance whom he trusted would come to her home to pick up the money. The woman handed over a total of 14.2 million yen to the man who visited her residence several times.
