Japan Police Arrest 13 Fraudsters Sent Back from Cambodia

Tokyo, Jan. 15 (Jiji Press)--Japanese police have arrested 13 people sent back from Cambodia for their suspected involvement in so-called special fraud conducted through a base in the Southeast Asian nation.

The joint investigation headquarters of Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department and the prefectural police of Kanagawa, south of Tokyo, did not disclose whether the suspects in their 20s to 60s have admitted the allegations against them.

Cambodian authorities detained the 13 individuals in November 2025. They are suspected to be members of a fraud group that has its base in Bavet, southeastern Cambodia. Their roles are believed to include making phone calls to their targets by posing as police officers and others.

Some of the Japanese suspects were sent back home on Tuesday and the rest on Wednesday.

The 13 are suspected of swindling a Kanagawa woman in her 60s out of a total of about 11 million yen between late October and early November last year, according to their arrest warrants. They allegedly had the woman remit the money to the group's bank account by making phone calls to the woman in which they said, among other things, "We need to investigate you as a suspect of money laundering and check the banknotes you have."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]