Japan arrests Bangkok-based suspect over Cambodia fraud case
After deportation from Thailand, Yusuke Sasaki faced allegations in Japan that he led a Poipet-based group tied to ¥1.4 billion in fraud losses.
- Japanese national Yusuke Sasaki was arrested by Japanese police after being deported from Thailand.
- Sasaki is suspected of leading and directing a Cambodia-based fraud group from his residence in Bangkok.
- The fraud operation is estimated to have caused losses of around 1.4 billion yen by targeting victims in Japan.
- The arrest is linked to a specific case where a woman was defrauded of 31.4 million yen after being told her bank account was used for money laundering.
Japanese police arrested Yusuke Sasaki, a 38-year-old Japanese national, on Tuesday (June 16), after he was deported from Thailand earlier the same day.
He had been held by Thai officers before Aichi Prefectural Police in central Japan took him into custody on suspicion of directing a Cambodia-based special fraud group while living in Thailand.
Investigators believe Sasaki was one of the leaders of a fraud group with many Japanese members who were detained in May last year.
The group was among several such operations based in Poipet, a town in northwestern Cambodia.
Aichi police estimate that scams allegedly carried out by the group caused losses of around 1.4 billion yen.
They also said Sasaki provided funds used to finance the operation.
The arrest is linked to a case from February last year, when Sasaki was suspected of working with other Japanese perpetrators to make calls from Cambodia to a woman in her 30s in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, eastern Japan.
Police allege the woman was defrauded of 31.4 million yen in cash after being falsely told that her bank account had been used for money laundering and that the funds in the account needed to be investigated.
According to Aichi Prefectural Police, Sasaki’s involvement emerged from statements given by 29 arrested Japanese nationals and a Chinese couple believed to have been issuing instructions.
Thai police said Sasaki lived in Bangkok with his family and is believed to have directed the frauds from the Thai capital.
They said he moved between Thailand, Malaysia, China and Vietnam to avoid the police investigation.
Police have not confirmed that Sasaki entered Cambodia.
[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
