A Japanese man was arrested on Thursday after being accused of squandering the equivalent of 338,000 euros mistakenly paid to him as Covid benefits, police said.
The arrest came after the 24-year-old claimed, through his lawyer, that he spent it all in online casinos but decided to "return the money, even if it (should) be done little by little”.
The tidy sum of 46.3 million yen (338,000 euros) was transferred to him last month following a confusion between officials of the town of Abu, in western Japan, who were then paying allowances to low-income people affected by the pandemic.
Municipal officials had multiplied visits, calls and letters to try to convince the person concerned to reimburse the money.
Tired of the fight, the municipality had taken legal action last week.
He was aware that he had received the money by mistake
“We arrested the man for apparently violating the Computer Fraud Act,” said a police officer from Yamaguchi Prefecture, where Abu Township is located.
The man is believed to have received benefits by transferring some of the money to another online account, despite being aware that he had received the money in error.
He is in custody and claimed to have used the money in online casinos, the officer said.
"I think the arrest is a step towards the truth," Abu Mayor Norihiko Hanada told reporters.
"I honestly don't believe (he used it all) and it's possible (there is money) somewhere," he said, adding that city staff were exhausted from calls. and angry emails from the public.
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