A 30-year-old suspect has been arrested for fraudulently obtaining a SIM card by impersonating another person, hijacking a mobile phone, and fraudulently transferring money from the impersonator's online banking account. These methods are called "SIM swap scams" and the Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the details of the incident.
The person arrested is an unemployed Ai Oneda (30) from Kamimikawa Town, Tochigi Prefecture.
According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, in September last year, a mobile phone retailer in Tochigi Prefecture impersonated a woman in her 9s living in Tokyo and was suspected of fraudulently obtaining a SIM card containing user information such as a telephone number.
In the online banking used by the woman, the "one-time password" that is temporarily issued when sending money was entered on the mobile phone, but the suspect is suspected of using a fraudulently obtained SIM card to hijack the woman's mobile phone, enter the password, and fraudulently transfer about 200 million yen from the woman's account to defraud her.
The suspect, along with other suspects, appears to have illegally obtained the woman's online banking ID and password through phishing tactics.
He has admitted to the charges.
The method of fraudulently obtaining a SIM card by impersonating another person in order to misuse a phone number, etc. is called "SIM swap fraud", and damage has been confirmed in the past few years.
The suspect applied for a so-called "black part-time job" on SNS, and the Metropolitan Police Department is investigating whether he was involved in an illegal remittance of about 9000 million yen.