Tokushima, Oct. 21 (Jiji Press)–Tokushima prefectural police arrested on Wednesday four Japanese men who have been detained by Vietnamese authorities for their alleged involvement in a special fraud scheme operating from a base in the Southeast Asian country. The fraud suspects, aged between 27 and 61, were sent to Japan by air. They include Masami Maegawa, a 61-year-old self-proclaimed company worker, and unemployed Ken Sadakuni, 43. The four allegedly defrauded a woman in her 60s in Okinawa Prefecture, southern Japan, of 500,000 yen in cash in January-February, by pretending to be police officers and lying to her over the phone that she had been involved in a fraud case and that her banknotes needed to be tracked for the investigation. The police department of the western Japan prefecture has not disclosed whether the suspects admitted or denied the allegations. According to the police, Vietnamese authorities raided the fraud base in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, in February and detained three Chinese nationals as well as the four Japanese. The police suspect that more than 10 people were defrauded of tens of millions of yen in total. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
