2016.11.21
Man arrested on suspicion of pre-paid card fraud
Okinawa Prefectiral Police arrested Thursday a 33-year-old man on suspicion of violating the Unfair Competition Prevention Act and of a computer fraud.
According to investigators, Takeru Iwanori is suspected of having obtained customer credit card information from Mitsui Sumitomo Trust Club Okinawa Office where he used to work as a temporary staff, and the used the information to replenish his own prepaid card. Iwanori has reportedly admitted to the charges.
Police say Iwanori is allegedly used several credit card numbers to replenish several times the funds of several prepaid cards issued by the Tokyo-based company.
According to Mitsui Sumitomo Trust, Iwanori was dismissed in August. An internal investigation by the company showed Iwanori had gained a total of ¥2.7 million. The company subsequently covered the loss and there is no damage to its customers.
Iwanori reportedly also sold some of the prepaid cards on an Internet auction site. Police are continuing their investigation to see whether Iwanori has been involved in any other crimes using the customer information.
Mitsui Sumitomo Trust Club says, “It is very regrettable that an incident like this has occurred. We sincerely apologize for causing trouble for our customers. We will make sincere efforts to prevent a similar misdeed occurring again.”