Pakistani Couple Arrested For National Crime Wave

[Mulboyne]

27 year old Khuram Shehzad, who claims be a carpet shop worker, has been arrested along with his 18 year old wife on suspicion of committing 300 thefts in eleven different prefectures around Japan. Police believe they may have stolen over 10 million yen. In one case, they asked a cashier at a supermarket register to give them ten thousand yen notes with a "B" serial code in exchange for some they had. When the cashier picked up his wad of bills to check, they snatched it from him to check for themselves. In the process, they stole five bills which only came to light later. The other thefts are thought to have taken place in a similar fashion. The couple had illegal Cypriot passports and, after arriving in Japan on the 2nd of August, appear to have embarked on the crime spree with their daughter in tow. They were apprehended in Okayama on the 28th so, if the police are correct in their estimates, they were stealing from around a dozen shops a day. The couple initially arrived at Naha airport from Hong Kong, took a domestic flight to Chubu and then the Shinkansen up to Tokyo. In the capital, they bought the car from a Brazilian for 300,000 yen and then headed south. They had 600,000 yen with them when they were caught.

Kyoto Shimbun here, Mainichi here.

[pheyton]

Japan is the ultimate playground for grifters. A member of my wife's extended family was conned out of about $5k by one of the caller scams in which they pretend to be a grandson in trouble. Girls will gladly give their savings away to boyfriends in trouble and vice versa. Naivety on a national level. Or is it purity?

If it weren't for Japan's keystone cops, these 2 probably would have been picked up immediately. Anyone know the laws regarding P.I.s in Japan? Seems like a it would be a lucrative business there.

[Mike Oxlong]

Maybe these guys can help?

http://pallorium.com/

[American Oyaji]

I've had a couple girlfriends offer up to Y100,000.

I paid them back.

[Visitor K]

Japan is the ultimate playground for grifters.

its pretty bad when japanese people travel, i met a japanese girl that lost three thousand dollars to a guy in mexico city.

[Mulboyne]

Japan is the ultimate playground for grifters. A member of my wife's extended family was conned out of about $5k by one of the caller scams in which they pretend to be a grandson in trouble.

An interesting aspect of those ore ore scamsis that they were far less successful in West Japan. In particular, they were almost a complete failure in Hyogo. Initially, police thought that the lack of complaints was just a sign that no-one was working the con in Kansai but, as the publicity built up, it transpired that people were getting the calls but were apparently less gullible than people in East Japan.

[Behan]

Tough Kansaijin. Probably try to get money out of the sagishi.

[pheyton]

An interesting aspect of those ore ore scamsis that they were far less successful in West Japan. In particular, they were almost a complete failure in Hyogo. Initially, police thought that the lack of complaints was just a sign that no-one was working the con in Kansai but, as the publicity built up, it transpired that people were getting the calls but were apparently less gullible than people in East Japan.

Shit man, you ever dealt with a Kansai Baba before? Like Behan said, before you know it you're the one being conned.

[Mulboyne]

Shit man, you ever dealt with a Kansai Baba before? Like Behan said, before you know it you're the one being conned.

Which begs the question, is it mainly Kanto people getting conned when they go overseas? Or does even one of your Kansai Babas drop her guard when she leaves the shores?

[pheyton]

Which begs the question, is it mainly Kanto people getting conned when they go overseas? Or does even one of your Kansai Babas drop her guard when she leaves the shores?

No, my wife has a few Kansai obasan customers at her work and she says they grind here every time they come in. Always looking for an angle. The Kanto and Tohoku people are definitely more gullible.

[Iraira]

Kansai people ask for discounts, so I assume that the scammers would get tired of being nickel and dimed when asking that Kansai Baba pays for the damage that her husband caused in "this morning's accident".

No scammer can put up with "I know a cheaper body shop that can fix your car." being repeated again and again.

[Mulboyne]

There's a Yomiuri report (Japanese) that 2 Vietnamese nationals have been arrested for 30-40 cases of shoplifting in Hiroshima, Yamaguchi and Okayama. They travelled in a rental car and stole mainly alcohol, cosmetics, food and pharmaceuticals, selling them on to another group of foreign criminals they were working with. The arrested men have said that they had an acquaintance who had done the same since 1998 and got involved themselves from late last year. They targeted large-scale supermarkets and discount stores. Police say there are an increasing number of these kinds of retailers in the area and believe they are just dealing with the tip of the iceberg.

[Mulboyne]

Iza is reporting a similar incident in Osaka (Japanese). The thieves appear to have been a bit more subtle, however. Four stores in Naniwa separately notified police of thefts from their cash registers. Each shop had a story that cashiers were approached by a couple of "foreign-looking" men who said they were interested in Japanese banknotes and asked to see some examples. A cashier in a keitai store said she opened the till to show them and they left her store. About ten minutes later, she noticed her till was looking a bit emptier to the tune of 110,000 yen. The thefts took place on separate days and, altogether, the four stores reported losses of 220,000 yen. None of the cashiers seemed aware of being robbed at the time. One witness described the men as "middle eastern".

[Mike Oxlong]

One witness described the men as "middle eastern".

After referencing this chart, that is...

[Mulboyne]

The Yomiuri has picked up the recent story with CCTV images. The first shot shows the thief being shown some notes after he has asked. The second shot shows the guy distracting the cashier by pointing back to the till while the third shot shows him putting some of the first bills in his left hand pocket.