In some wild scammer news, Japanese authorities have arrested four involved in a Japanese scamming gang headed up by a boss known as Luffy which was operating in the Philippines. Officials believe that one of the four men is actually Luffy.
Japanese Authorities Arrest Four Involved in ‘Luffy’ Scam and Robbery Gang That Targeted Senior Citizens
Two of the suspects were deported from the Philippines earlier in the week of February 5, 2023. The other two arrived on February 8. Japanese authorities revealed the suspects as Kiyoto Imamura, Toshiya Fujita, Tomonobu Kojima, and Yuki Watanabe. The latter has been identified as Luffy in Japanese and Filipino media.
The group were already imprisoned in the Philippines but still manages to organize robberies and scams which were carried by associates on the outside. Their scams focused on parting senior citizens with their money. The scam is nothing new as authorities in the Philippines have been pursuing Japanese scammers for the past four years.
Important to note is that the Luffy gang—the name being taken from Money D. Luffy from the anime One Piece—has only been active since 2019. Price have been observing the group’s movements in Japan and the Philippines. One robbery in Japan resulted in the murder of a 90-year-old woman in Tokyo. That murder occurred just in January 2023.
The Luffy gang was able to recruit members by posting ads for “dark” part time jobs on social media. From there, they kept in touch with gang members via an encrypted app called Telegram. The recruited members would pose as government officials and frighten elderly victims by saying that their financial information had been compromised.
On the surface, the scam is no different from others that have been in circulation for decades. However, the Luffy gang went further by requesting a home visit to help the soon to be victim. Those who agreed had their ATM cards stolen and their bank accounts drained.
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