A 37-year-old Taiwanese national has been arrested on suspicion of posing as a police officer and defrauding a 73-year-old Osaka man of cash and gold worth about ¥140 million, Tokai TV reported.
Police identified the suspect as Hsu Kuan-wen. In July, working with others, he is suspected of telling the man over a LINE video call that officers were "investigating his assets" and taking ¥33 million in cash plus nine gold bars, together worth about ¥106.5 million.
The man was told to put the money and gold in a bag and leave it in the corridor of his apartment building, according to police, who believe Hsu collected it.
Hsu denies the charge. Police are investigating whether he repeatedly entered Japan on short-term stays and took part in a special fraud group — organized crews that run phone and messaging scams, often against elderly people with savings.
The case follows the pattern common to such crews: a scripted call, a false official pretext, and a victim persuaded to hand over assets without ever meeting an officer in person.