Furikome Sagi (Remittance Fraud) (2007.6.24)
June 26th, Wednesday
Grandfather received a postcard (※ see the photo ). Their message was as follows.
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The Final Notification of the Suit against Your Unpaid Consumption Fee
Now you are filed a civil suit by a mail order contract company. Their claim is that you have not paid the total consumption fee and have not tried to contact the company.
If you keep neglecting it, you will receive the letter that orders you to appear in court, and then you have to consent to the seizure of your salary, personal property and real estate.
You
could consult us about the procedure or withdrawal of the civil suit, but you
have to call us by yourself according to "The Act for Protection of Personal
Data".
※ Caution! ※ Recently, some swindling groups use the procedures of suits in summary court as their tactics. These suits are to be judged within only one day, so if you don’t take any action you are sentenced to be guilty in your absence just following the complaint of the plaintiff.
In the case that you do not remember about this consumption fee,
please contact us immediately.
The Deadline of Withdrawal of the Suit :
Within 3 business days after this letter arrives
Tel 03–3567–10×× (the Controlling
Section)
Weekdays 9:00-17:00
1-19-3 Ginza, Chu-ou Ward,
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Grandfather did not remember anything about the fee. So, as directed, he phoned “The Lawsuit Administration” to confirm the fact. It was the start of the tragedy.
Mr. Nakata answered, and he introduced “Dai-ichi Chiyoda Law Firm” to Grandfather. Mr. Nakata said that the firm should take care of the problem.
Then Grandfather called “Dai-ichi Chiyoda Law Firm”, following Mr. Nakata’s introduction. A lawyer, Mr. Kishimoto answered. His voice was gentle and Grandfather felt it reliable. Grandfather said,” I don’t remember anything about this. Please solve this by any means.”
“Ah, you, too,” Mr. Kishimoto said casually, “I’ve got several consultations like yours recently.”
“Really? What should I do?” Grandfather asked.
Mr. Kishimoto suggested that Grandfather pay the temporary deposit money. He said that the suit was going to be held in Thursday evening, and he could safely finish the trial with the deposit money.
“It’s temporary,” he emphasized. “You can get the money back on Friday.”
“And how much is it?”
“It’s 898,000 yen. Please transfer the money to us with the ATM so that we could start the legal proceedings as soon as possible.”
Grandfather understood what Mr. Kishimoto said. And UNFORTUNATELY, he HAD that much money at home. Actually, he had 1.5 million yen at home then. It was the money that had been reimbursed from a life insurance company just several months ago.
With about 900,000 yen in his hand, he walked to a bank. He didn’t know how to manage the ATM, so he asked a bank clerk how to send the money to the directed account. The clerk KINDLY helped him send the money. Grandfather got relieved to have finished the remittance, and went to other place for another matter.
His sister-in-law, Miss Asao lives with him. Now they live in the house by the two. In that evening, Miss Asao received some phone calls from Mr. Kishimoto, but she didn’t know anything about the money or about the lawsuit, so she hang up the phone just saying that Grandfather was out.
Grandfather came home at night, and heard from his sister-in-law about the calls.
June 27th, Thursday
In the morning, Grandfather phoned “Dai-ich Chiyoda Law Firm”. Mr. Kishimoto answered again.
“Oh, Mr. Asao! I wanted to talk to you. We got the money, made the necessary documents and we could finish the procedures. Now you are not related to the trial any longer. ”
“Oh, good. Thank you very much,” Grandfather thanked him.
But that was not the end of the lawyer’s sophistry.
He said, “Mr. Asao, what we already solved is just about the civil-trial. Some procedures still remain. If you pay 898,000 yen further, this matter can be completely canceled this evening in higher court and all the money will be re-transferred in your account tomorrow.”
Grandfather was a little confused, but he got very much interested in this lawyer’s words, completely canceled this evening. He was EAGER to settle down this troublesome problem as soon as possible. However, he didn’t have enough money. So he asked a favor to Mr. Kishimoto, ”I don’t have that much money any more. All I have now is about 600,000 yen. This time couldn’t you pay the money for me temporarily? ”
“Mmm… We don’t have that much money, either…” Mr. Kishimoto hesitated, but the next moment, he proposed, “OK. We manage 300,000 yen for you. So could you go and send the rest 598,000 yen right now? ”
Grandfather appreciated his support, went to the bank and transferred the money. Again, the KIND bank-clerk helped him handle the machine and send the money.
June 28th, Friday
In those days, Grandfather made it a habit to go to a religious facility --- Konkou-Kyou Shrine--- in early morning. He used to pray and talk with his friends every day.
On this day, he went there as usual, and talked to his friends about the postcard and the money he had paid. Some of the friends said that they had also received such postcards before but that they had ignored them.
Someone said, “I don’t believe it’s genuine. You shouldn’t have paid that money.”
Grandfather got worried. Thinking twice about it, it might be doubtful.
He went to a nearby police station to consult about what he did, without calling Mr. Kishimoto.
A young policeman, Mr. K, took charge of this case. He belonged to the detective department. Grandfather showed the postcard to Mr. K and explained what had happened in the past two days.
“Ah, Mr. Asao. You must’ve been cheated.” That was his first comment. “You must've been swindled. I don’t think they would answer the call any more. You shouldn’t phone them in the first place. I’m sorry to say that the money won’t come back.” Grandfather got disappointed to hear that.
“OK, Mr. Asao. I phone them, pretending to be your son. Maybe I can get some information.”
“Please do,” Grandfather asked.
Mr. K called “Dai-ichi Chiyoda Law Firm” from the telephone in the police station. Then, against his anticipation, Mr. Kishimoto DID answer.
The young police detective said, “Hello, this is Asao calling. I am a son of Tokushige Asao who transferred money yesterday.” And he questioned Mr. Kishimoto when and how the money was returning.
Mr. Kishimoto said, “OK… I…I’ll explain to you, so please hold the line for a minute.”
And that was the DEAD END. The line was hanged up, and they NEVER took the call.
Mr. K promised Grandfather that they would start investigating on this crime and would make efforts to catch the swindlers.
*******
Well, what do you think? Do you think my Grandfather was stupid?
I think that the strategy of the swindlers was contemptible. They skillfully took advantage of the psychological weakness of their game.
Grandfather said afterwards,” I am an old person who was born in Taisho
period. We are weak to the orders from the official body such as the court.
You see, this postcard has come from the lawsuit bureau in Ginza,
I felt a deep hatred towards the men who had cheated the poor
elderly person of 92 years old.
*******
July 3rd, Monday
“We have just started investigating. We have put the telephone numbers and the bank account number on the inquiry and we are waiting for the answers. If we have good news about it, we will phone you. But I want you to know that specifying the criminals is very difficult in these cases. They probably used fake phone numbers. And the bank account they use is changing all the time, so that they can make it difficult to confirm the user. They open bank accounts using fictitious names and they even sell and buy such accounts these days.”
I questioned him, “But at least we know their phone number, right? How about using tracing (reverse-detecting) system to specify them? ”
“May I speak frankly?” I felt his tone changed. The young police officer confessed,” We can’t use the tracing system so easily. As you say, it might be easy to arrest the criminal if we can use such system anytime anywhere. But we need to take the SEARCH WARRENT to use it. And the fact is that we can’t get the warrant unless it is a big crime, such as murder or kidnapping. You know, we can not hunt all the citizens freely. We must observe the rule of investigation. ”
I reminded a line from the famous TV drama Odoru- Daisousasen ,“The police station is not the FORT APACHE, but it’s a COMPANY.” (This is the words of Sumire to Mr. Aoshima in the 1st story of TV drama series.)
He continued, “Every year, we have a few opportunities going to
I was surprised to hear such a thing. A FEW opportunities in a year? What is he talking about? What a slow investigation! Don’t they need SPEED in their jobs?
I said to him, “Do you have to go to
The answer of Mr. K was disappointing but was also pretty understandable.
“No, no. This case happened in OUR region, so WE have to do the job. If we asked the help like you said, only the MPD ( Metropolitan Police Department / Keishichou ) would be incredibly, unfairly busy. ”
At the end of the interview, he showed sympathy to us and revealed his true emotions to Furikome swindlers. “I know you are furious at them, but I am, too. I have investigated such swindlers several times before. And I feel MAD at them because they always evade our pursuits and they are never caught, even if we tried and tried and tried. I promise we will do our best, so please leave this case to us.”
This
young man doesn’t tell a lie at this point. I can do nothing but leave this to
them.
And Grandfather and I left there.
June, 2007 --- After one year from the case ---
During the past one year, some criminals who had related to “Furikome-Sagi” were arrested all over Japan (※see the photo). However, the men who cheated Grandfather have not been caught yet. I phoned the police station and asked about their investigation, but they said that their pursuit didn’t reach the criminals and that they could not guarantee that the money would return even if they could arrest the swindlers. To my disappointment, Mr. K had already been transferred out.
Before this swindle happened, I had thought that Japanese police was considerably smart and strong. So I expected that they could find and arrest the swindlers within a few months. But the fact was that they naturally held a lot of other cases, and didn’t concentrate just on my Grandfather’s case.
I understand that the case might not be a “big crime” compared to murder or kidnapping. But I think they should have worked on this case more thoroughly. If all the money they swindled is concerned, the total amount of damage will probably go up to several hundred million yen or more. Besides, this crime has deprived Grandfather of not only his money but also his precious vigor. I say this was definitely a “big crime”. In my opinion, they should have used more advanced means like tracing system and they should have requested the cooperation of MPD.
Why they call “Dai-ichi Chiyoda Law Firm” from the telephone in the police station at the beginning? I think that was a foolish act. If the swindlers had “number display function”, and I think they naturally did, they would know that the call was from a police station, because the end of the number was 110.
The police officer should have at least come to Grandfather's house, called to the criminal from there and got more information about them. If they had arrested this swindler group, other similar crimes might have been prevented.
Of course, I don’t say that the police is always helpless. I sometimes
feel admiration and gratitude to the police. But my frank impression after
this swindle is : The police were more powerless than I thought. Certainly, it’s a COMPANY.
It is a shame we should know that mean criminals do exist who cheat innocent people. We are jeopardized in this world. After all, we must defend ourselves in the first place.
Let us be careful !!!
Note : Grandfather’s name in this
essay is a fake one.
