Yakuza, Nepalese among 34 arrested in Japan over coronavirus loans scam
- Since the arrests, dozens more people have contacted authorities to ask how to return loans they are not entitled to
- Organised crime groups are widely thought to have orchestrated the scam
Japanese authorities say that since the announcement of the arrests in September, dozens of people have inquired about how they can return loans they took out, claiming they were unaware they were not eligible to receive the funds when they first applied.
It is widely believed that organised crime groups were behind the fraudulent applications, with one person who was approached and invited to apply for support to which he was not entitled telling the South China Morning Post that he was told it was an “easy way to make money” and that there was no risk of being caught.
The two Nepalese men have been arrested on suspicion of fraud for applying for loans from the Tokyo Council of Social Welfare.
An official of the Metropolitan Police Department’s organised crime division told the Mainichi newspaper that the two men had claimed in their applications that their monthly incomes had fallen to zero, even though they were still earning around 200,000 yen (US$1,896) a month from their jobs in a restaurant.
