Two people were arrested for purchasing bank accounts, soliciting people on SNS, and receiving online bank accounts in other people's names. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the account as having been used for fraud, and believes that it has purchased more than 50 accounts so far.
The suspects arrested were Kazuki Sato (32), an unemployed man from Kushiro City, Hokkaido, and Kyoshiro Sakamoto (28), a company employee from Miyakonojo City, Miyazaki Prefecture.
According to the Metropolitan Police Department, in September last year, a man in his 20s from Chiba Prefecture solicited accounts to buy accounts and received the ID and password of an online bank account for 40,000 yen, according to the Act on Prevention of Transfer of Criminal Proceeds. A violation is suspected.
It is believed that the account information was further transferred to another person for 90,000 yen, and was later used in an investment fraud incident in which damage of tens of millions of yen was confirmed.
The two appear to be members of a so-called "tool shop" group that mediates the buying and selling of accounts used for crimes, and Sato, who was known as a "full-time employee," instructed Sakamoto, a "junior employee," on how to mediate. That means he was doing it.
All communication took place on SNS, and the two did not know each other. Upon investigation, both have admitted to the charges.
The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the possibility that it has purchased more than 50 accounts from around 40 people.