'Play along' tactic thwarts cons

In the ongoing battle of wits with telephone fraudsters, police have deployed a tactic using potential victims to make suckers out of the con artists.

Police in Kanagawa and other prefectures have reported success in their "pretend-to-be-duped" campaigns to thwart the rampant "it's me, it's me" scams.

When con artists call, posing as family members desperately in need of money, police ask their targets to play along and pretend to come to the rescue of their loved ones.

When the would-be cheaters show up at the drop-off point, officers are there to greet them.

Since the campaign started in late January, Kanagawa prefectural police have arrested seven people while the number of phone fraud attempts has dropped.

In one case, a 67-year-old man in Kamakura picked up the phone Feb. 5 and heard a male say, "Hello, father."

The man immediately knew something was amiss; he has no son.

The "son" said he was in big trouble because he stole company money.

"I will send a motorbike messenger, so could you hand him 1.5 million yen, please?" the caller implored.

The man, who knew about the police campaign, contacted officers.

Police met the bike messenger to explain the situation. Then, an officer rode the bike to Tokyo's Shibuya to "deliver" the money.

At the drop-off point, police arrested a 20-year-old male college freshman on suspicion of attempted fraud.

In 2008, Kanagawa Prefecture ranked second worst, after Tokyo, in terms of damage from such fraud cases. A record 3.15 billion yen was taken in 1,988 cases.

In late January, Kanagawa police sought cooperation in the campaign from 18,000 officers and other employees, their family members, and 15,000 retired workers and crime prevention volunteers.

Members of the public were asked to join from March, taking note of suspicious calls and contacting police immediately.

Police have since received about 50 reports, leading to seven arrests.

What prompted the campaign was a word used by a suspect, "sen-mittsu," or "three in 1,000." This means the suspect felt a good success rate would be three people scammed from 1,000 calls.

Police decided to make use of the 997 cases in which the "lies" are detected.

"The crime used to be a low-risk, high-return one for the perpetrator. But now, even one phone call can carry high risks," said a senior prefectural police official.

The campaign has apparently alarmed con artists.

In February, there were only 25 phone fraud cases in the prefecture, 39 fewer than January.

In March, the number rose again to 66, although it was 70 percent fewer than a year ago.

But now, it's the fraudsters' turn to change tactics. Police said in 15 cases in March, the con artists did not pretend to be relatives, but intimidated victims by posing as gangsters.

"Because their modus operandi is no longer effective, they may be going back to their old tricks," a police official said.

Police in other prefectures have also reported success with similar campaigns.

Saitama prefectural police tried to meet fraudsters in 109 scam attempts by the end of March. Ten people were arrested in six cases.

But some creative con artists are taking advantage of the campaign itself.

In late March, a 72-year-old woman in Gyoda received a call from her "son," who said he needed 4 million yen.

About 10 minutes later, the woman received a call from a "police officer," who asked for her cooperation to catch the fraudster by following his instructions.

The "officer" assured her it "would be all right because the police will be there with you."

On a neighbor's advice, she contacted the real police.

A jobless man, 47, was arrested when he tried to collect the money.(IHT/Asahi: May 5,2009)