Swindling people who only wanted to help

April 7, 2014

Fraudsters took advantage of victims' goodwill to help Fukushima recovery efforts

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140407p2a00m0na015000c.html 

Fraudsters who are suspected of swindling elderly people across the country out of hundreds of millions of yen in a bogus forest sales scheme in Fukushima Prefecture took advantage of the victims' goodwill to support disaster-recovery efforts as well as their fears.

Victims had previously been swindled out of millions of yen in fake sales and financial instrument investment schemes. Many of them were hesitant to invest in the forest sales scheme, but ended up losing massive amounts of money to fraudsters again.

What victims have told the Mainichi Shimbun over the case and the records of telephone conversations between them and fraudsters show that the culprits used crafty methods to cheat the victims.

A man suddenly would call a victim, offering to recover money they had previously lost to fraudsters and delete their name from lists of victims of fraud cases that had leaked to outsiders.

"Your name is on one of the lists of fraud victims that are being traded. We can delete your name from the list and recover the money you lost on your behalf," the man would typically say. "We're a third-party organization commissioned by police. We can't disclose the location of our office because we are dealing with crime organizations, but we're similar to a special investigation unit."

The man would then tell the victim that a man aged over 80, who is respected even by Chinese organized crime groups, served as an adviser to the police affiliate.

Shortly after the telephone call, the victim would receive another call from a different man with the caller's phone number kept anonymous. The caller would identify himself as the leader of Chinese crime organization and threatened to harm the victim or family members.

"The adviser called me and instructed me to return your money to you. I am holding your money," the caller said.

He would ask the victim how much bank deposits they had saying such information is necessary to "check data." When they refused to answer, the caller would say, "There're younger members who wouldn't hesitate to kill people, so we can kill your children. We've already checked your home."

The "adviser" would later call the victim claiming to have close relations with officials of the International Criminal Police Organization, lawyers and influential politicians.

"I scolded the crime organization boss and told him not to call you or visit your home. You don't have to worry anymore," he would say to the victim to calm them down.

Then, the "adviser" would warn the victim that taxation authorities could impose a massive amount of taxes on the repaid money

"If you are to get back a large amount of money as a lump-sum payment from a criminal organization, the taxation bureau would target you. The taxation bureau could strictly tax you unless you make some contributions to the nation," he would say. "The government intends to nationalize forests in Fukushima. If you buy a portion of them to support disaster recovery efforts, you can contribute to the nation. You can later get back the money you pay to buy the land."

He would then introduce a real estate agency to the victim and urge them to use the money they are supposed to get back to buy land.

An 82-year-old woman living in Tokyo, who had previously been swindled out of 14 million yen and was lured into buying land for 8.5 million yen, is furious about the incident.

"I thought it'd be all right to spend such a large amount of money if it contributed to Fukushima. It's unforgiveable that they used disaster-hit areas for their crimes," she said.

A 77-year-old woman who remitted 2 million yen to buy land said she had imagined that soil contaminated with radiation generated by decontamination work would be temporarily stored in the forests, and agreed to pay the money to do something for Fukushima.

April 07, 2014(Mainichi Japan)

Investors swindled over purchase of mountain forests in disaster-hit Fukushima

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140407p2a00m0na014000c.html 

Fraudsters are suspected of swindling at least 70 people across the country out of some 400 million yen by urging them to buy mountain forests in disaster-hit Fukushima Prefecture at prices more than 1,000 times their estimated value, the Mainichi Shimbun has learned.

Police departments that have been consulted by victims have launched investigations into the case on suspicion of fraud.

The Mainichi Shimbun contacted those who claimed to be defrauded, and confirmed that 37 of them have been cheated out of about 314 million yen. These victims, aged between 62 and 83, lost 1 million yen to 54 million yen each. They are also victims of earlier fraud cases.

The victims said they received a phone call from a man claiming to be a member of a public utility organization affiliated with police. The man offered to recover losses that the victims had suffered from past fraud cases and delete their names from lists of fraud victims that had leaked to outsiders.

A man identifying himself as the leader of a criminal organization called them and told them that he would reluctantly return the money they had paid to allegedly fraudulent schemes, as if to intimidate the victims.

A man claiming to be an adviser to the public utility organization subsequently called the victims and recommended that they use the money that would be returned to them to buy portions of a forest in Nihonmatsu or one in Kawamata, both in Fukushima Prefecture. The man claims that the central government intended to buy the forests and told the victims that purchases of such land would support disaster recovery.

Real estate agencies that they were introduced to by the public utility organization explained to them that the Nihonmatsu forest would be redeveloped into an airport for cargo flights while there was a plan to build a geothermal power station in the Kawamata forest.

They paid 100,000 yen per tsubo (a Japanese unit of land area; 1 tsubo is about 3.3 square meters) to buy a portion of land in Nihonmatsu, about 1,100 times the estimated price of the land based on which the fixed property tax on the property is calculated. The sales price is also estimated to be approximately 780 times the officially assessed land price, considering that land prices based on which the fixed property tax is calculated is 70 percent of the officially assessed land prices.

The forest in Kawamata is situated adjacent to an area designated as a zone for preparations to lift evacuation orders.

The victims were told that they would be informed of when the money they had lost to previous fraud cases would be returned after they bought the land, but they actually became unable to contact the organization and the adviser. Most of the real estate agencies can also no longer be contacted.

The Fukushima Prefectural Government and the municipal governments that host the forests said they have never heard of any plan to build an airport or a thermal power plant at the sites.

The former owners of the two forests told the Mainichi Shimbun that they sold the land plots because they became worthless following the outbreak of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011. The former owners added those who bought their land did not say how they intended to use the land.

The 65-year-old head of one of the real estate agencies said he only lent his name to an acquaintance, adding that he knows nothing about the land transactions.

April 07, 2014(Mainichi Japan)