Tokyo Man Defrauded of ¥140 Mill. in SNS Scam in Which Person Claiming to Be Celebrity Offers Investment Opportunities

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:32 JST, April 16, 2024

A man in his 70s in Tokyo was defrauded of about ¥140 million in a social media scam in which a person pretending to be a celebrity offered him investment opportunities, the Metropolitan Police Department said Monday.

The police are investigating this as a fraud case.

The man received messages on social media, such as “I will teach you investment techniques” and “You will definitely make a profit” in October, the police said. After he replied, a person claiming to be an assistant instructed him to download a smartphone application. He remitted a total of about ¥140 million in more than 10 transfers to the instructed account by early this month, the police said.