By TORU FURUSHO/ Staff Writer
November 13, 2024 at 17:57 JST
The headquarters of the Ibaraki prefectural police department (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
MITO—Ibaraki prefectural police on Nov. 12 arrested a Chinese national suspected of impersonating a celebrity in the biggest online investment scam perpetrated against a single individual in Japan.
Wen Zhuolin, 34, who resides in Tokyo’s Sumida Ward, is suspected of stealing 83 million yen ($535,000) from a 71-year-old female company executive in Ibaraki Prefecture.
The suspect and his accomplices allegedly used the Line messaging app to contact the victim between October 2023 and April this year, according to police.
Wen is accused of impersonating renowned economist Takuro Morinaga and his assistant to persuade the woman to invest in gold, promising an unrealistic 85 percent monthly return.
The victim handed over the money to the suspects on two separate occasions in December last year at a train station in southern Ibaraki Prefecture, police said.
Earlier this year, prefectural police reported that the same woman had been defrauded by individuals posing as famed entrepreneur Takafumi Horie.
The total losses suffered by the woman amount to 809 million yen, making it the largest known case of online investment fraud against one person in Japan.
In May, Fukushima prefectural police arrested Wen in connection with a separate fraud case.
Evidence seized during that investigation led to the discovery of Wen’s involvement in the Ibaraki case, police said.
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