Woman in 80s in Ehime Pref. Defrauded of ¥1.2 Billion After Perpetrators Impersonating Police, Other Authorities Contact Victim

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:01 JST, April 7, 2026

A woman in her 80s in Ehime Prefecture was defrauded of about ¥1.2 billion in a special fraud case in which the perpetrators impersonated a police officer and others, the Ehime prefectural police said Monday.

According to the police, the woman received a phone call at her home in October from a woman claiming to be a pharmacy employee, who told her that her health insurance card was being used fraudulently. Subsequently, men posing as a police officer, prosecutor and others told the woman that an investigation into her assets was required.

The victim made eight separate transfers into a designated account between December and February, totaling about ¥1.2 billion. She reportedly presented a fictitious land and building sales contract provided by the fraudsters to a financial institution to allow for the money transfers.

The money was transferred into the bank account of another fraud victim in Osaka Prefecture before it was sent as cryptocurrency to a destination specified by the group of fraudsters, according to the Osaka prefectural police, who believe the group used the Osaka victim’s account for money laundering.

The damages are said to be the highest in the prefecture since records began in 1989.