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Points of Focus
- Tokyo police arrested two suspects over an alleged $516,000 crypto fraud targeting a woman in her 40s.
- Callers posed as police and prosecutors and told her to transfer crypto to prove her innocence.
- Japan recorded about $392.9 million in fake-police scam losses through July, up 25.7% year-on-year.
Japanese police arrested two people accused of helping a Cambodia-based fraud operation trick a woman in her 40s into sending about $516,000 in cryptocurrency after callers told her she needed to prove her innocence to avoid arrest.
The arrest comes as losses from fake-police scams rose 25.7% year-on-year to $392.9 million through July, even though reported cases fell 6.4%, National Police Agency data show.
🇯🇵 Au Japon, une femme a perdu l’équivalent de plus de 500 000 $ en cryptos après que de faux policiers lui ont demandé de transférer ses fonds pour… « prouver son innocence ».
L’arnaque aurait été orchestrée depuis un centre d’appels au Cambodge. Les escrocs se faisaient… pic.twitter.com/GS09p6esa1
— Goku 🗞 (@Crypto__Goku) September 27, 2026
Victim sent crypto seven times after fake police calls
Tokyo Metropolitan Police arrested 38-year-old Mitsuki Minamisawa and 31-year-old Saki Okayama on suspicion of fraud. FNN reported that the victim had first received a call from a man claiming to represent Osaka Prefectural Police.
The caller allegedly told her that her bank card had been found in a $3.82-billion fraud and money-laundering case involving about 400 accounts. Other callers then posed as investigators and a prosecutor, warning that she was close to being arrested.
TV Asahi reported that the woman sent Bitcoin (BTC) and other crypto assets seven times after being told she had to prove she wasn’t involved. She also disclosed her account and savings balances because she believed she could be arrested if she didn’t cooperate.
Police link suspects to $1.53 million in crypto losses
Investigators believe the calls came from a fraud base in northwestern Cambodia. TBS News reported that Minamisawa allegedly worked as an interpreter at the site while also helping manage other callers.
Police suspect the pair was involved in cases totaling about $1.53 million in crypto losses. FNN said investigators believe a Chinese national acted as an organizer at the operation. Police haven’t disclosed whether either suspect admitted the allegations.
The alleged $516,000 loss was nearly seven times the $74,100 average loss per successful fake police scam recorded during the first half of 2026, according to National Police Agency data.
Fake police fraud losses reach $392.9 million in Japan
National Police Agency data show 5,422 fake police fraud cases through July 2026, down 6.4% year-on-year. Losses still rose 25.7% to about $392.9 million.
The agency made fake police fraud a separate statistical category in 2026 as losses from the scheme increased. Phone calls accounted for more than 90% of initial contacts in fake police scams during the first half of 2026.
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