TOKYO, Feb 26 (News On Japan) - A real estate executive with alleged ties to an organized crime group was arrested on suspicion of defrauding elderly victims by selling apartments at several times their market value and extracting large sums of cash, in a case that authorities say caused total losses exceeding 700 million yen.
A man walked out of a police station with his head lowered as he left custody. The suspect is Kanichi Ishii, 42, representative of a real estate company and a senior member of a Sumiyoshi-kai–affiliated crime group.
Ishii is suspected of conspiring with seven others to sell apartments to elderly victims at prices several times above market value and defrauding them of cash. Police believe total damages in the case exceed 700 million yen.
Investigators say the group targeted elderly people living alone or suffering from dementia and is believed to have obtained lists containing tens of thousands of elderly individuals.
The alleged crimes took place in 2023. Ishii and his associates are suspected of convincing an 85-year-old man that he could earn stable rental income through property investment and persuading him that two properties he had purchased for 2.6 million yen and 3 million yen were each worth 20 million yen, ultimately defrauding him of 40 million yen.
Including the incident leading to the arrests, the group is believed to have defrauded nearly 40 elderly victims of more than 700 million yen in total.
Interviews with relatives of an elderly woman who said she suffered similar damage from Kotobuki Real Estate, the company headed by Ishii, revealed the details of the scheme.
A relative of the victim said the woman lost 10 million yen on the first day and 6 million yen on the second day, for a total loss of 16 million yen.
According to the family, the woman was in her 80s at the time, lived alone and had been diagnosed with dementia.
The relative said, “When I went to help at her house, she asked me, ‘What do you think about apartment investment?’ I never expected her to bring that up, so I told her, ‘Absolutely don’t do that.’”
The following week, the fraud came to light when the woman showed her bankbook, revealing that large sums of money had been transferred online to the suspects’ real estate company.
The relative said all of the woman’s insurance policies and investment funds had been canceled and the surrender proceeds deposited into her account, only for 10 million yen to be withdrawn the next day through internet banking.
According to the family, members of the group initially approached the woman by posing as door-to-door salespeople.
The relative said the interaction began when one of the suspects said, “It’s been a while. When I visited your home before, work wasn’t going well,” to which the woman responded with encouragement. Police later said the exchange matched scripts found in a fraud manual.
After gaining her trust, the suspects allegedly proceeded with property sale contracts and had the woman open an online bank account that could be managed entirely through a smartphone, ultimately defrauding her of 16 million yen.
The relative urged caution, saying elderly people should not allow strangers into their homes, should avoid signing documents or using personal seals without family present, and should discuss financial matters openly within families.
The Metropolitan Police Department believes the suspects checked victims’ financial situations before carrying out the crimes and is continuing to investigate possible additional offenses.
Source: FNN
