Overview
- Five suspects, including Akitaro Naruse and a Chinese national surnamed Du, were arrested on November 11 on suspicion of fraud and violating the organized crime law.
- Police say the group posed as officers in calls to a man in his 70s, persuading him to buy 27 gold bars worth about ¥46.08 million that foreign couriers then collected from his home.
- The bars were sold to Tokyo purchase shops and passed to processing firms before being located by investigators.
- Saitama Prefectural Police are assessing group-wide damages at roughly ¥400 million and are probing the suspects as alleged coordinators within a larger network.
- Authorities report a nationwide rise in such frauds, with at least 21 cases totaling about ¥900 million in 2024, and the National Police Agency has urged gold dealers to verify customers’ purchase reasons.