OSAKA, Jun 29 (News On Japan) - A woman identifying herself as a pianist has spoken out after losing her entire savings to a sophisticated scam involving fake arrest warrants and impersonated officials.
Reiko Akutagawa, 32, fell victim to a new type of special fraud in May after receiving a phone call from a man claiming to be a detective with the Mie Prefectural Police. The caller accused her of selling a bank account for 150,000 yen, which had allegedly been used for money laundering, and claimed that usage fees had been transferred to her main bank account.
Although initially skeptical due to the international-looking phone number, Akutagawa checked the Mie police website and saw that the rest of the digits matched an actual contact number, which led her to trust the caller. The man then said he would pass her case to the Osaka Prefectural Police and hung up.
Moments later, a woman identifying herself as "Kondo Lisa" from the Osaka police’s Second Investigative Division contacted her via LINE video call. Kondo told Akutagawa she needed to verify her financial status in case she had sold a bank account out of financial desperation. During the exchange, Akutagawa was coerced into revealing the balances of all her bank accounts—totaling over 1.58 million yen—after being told that lying could result in legal consequences.
Kondo then sent her a PDF of a fabricated arrest warrant for "concealment of criminal proceeds," shocking Akutagawa. "Does this emergency arrest warrant mean I'm being arrested?" she asked during the call. Kondo responded that an investigation was needed to prove her innocence, and introduced a man claiming to be a prosecutor named Kamiya from the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office.
Despite her insistence that she had done nothing wrong, Kamiya questioned her aggressively and threatened her with arrest. He demanded she consolidate the money from her three accounts and transfer it to the Financial Services Agency, saying that the serial numbers of the bills would be used to prove her innocence. She was told that if she complied, her arrest warrant would be canceled.
Still on the call, she followed the instructions and transferred several million yen, only to realize shortly afterward that she had been scammed. The money was already gone—sent overseas.
Akutagawa later reflected, "If it had been just one phone call, I might have called the police immediately. But the calls just kept coming one after another, and I didn’t have time to think."
This case is part of a rising wave of scams that exploit fake identities of law enforcement and prosecutors. The pattern begins with a phone call from someone claiming to be from the police, warning that the victim’s account has been used for criminal activity. Then, under the guise of an investigation, the scammer switches to video calls and sends PDF files of fake arrest warrants.
What made this case more convincing was a link sent via LINE that directed Akutagawa to a fake police website, closely resembling the real one. The fake site contained a clickable "Case Lookup" button, which, after entering a code, displayed a customized arrest warrant filled with her personal details—information gleaned during the earlier calls.
Police warn that these scam tactics have become increasingly sophisticated. The number of fraud cases involving similar methods has risen sharply, with approximately 3.7 billion yen lost across around 370 cases from January to May this year alone. Notably, many victims are now in their teens to 30s, marking a shift from previous fraud schemes like "It's me" scams that typically targeted the elderly.
Source: YOMIURI
