Police have arrested a 38-year-old Japanese man on suspicion of leading a special fraud group based in Cambodia while living in Thailand.
The suspect, Yusuke Sasaki, was arrested Tuesday by the Aichi Prefectural Police after being deported from Thailand the same day, where he had been detained by local authorities.
Sasaki is believed to have been a leader of a fraud group that had many Japanese members who were detained in May last year. It was one of several fraud groups based in the northwestern Cambodian town of Poipet.
The prefectural police have estimated financial losses from fraud perpetrated by the group allegedly led by Sasaki total some ?1.4 billion.
Sasaki is suspected of conspiring with other Japanese perpetrators to make phone calls from Cambodia to a female resident in her 30s in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, in February last year and defrauding her of a total of ?31.4 million in cash.
The victim was falsely told that her bank account had been used for money laundering and that the money in the account had to be investigated.
The prefectural police also said Sasaki provided funds to finance the fraud group.
Sasaki¡¯s involvement surfaced from statements provided by 29 arrested Japanese nationals and a Chinese couple believed to have been giving instructions, according to the prefectural police.
According to Thai police, Sasaki is believed to have given instructions for the fraud operations from the Thai capital of Bangkok, where he lived with his family. To evade police investigation, he traveled between Thailand, Malaysia, China and Vietnam.
His entry into Cambodia has not been confirmed.
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