SAPPORO -- Imagine one day being suddenly accused of a crime you know nothing about. This was the reality for a man in his 70s living in Sapporo's Chuo Ward.

In January, the man fell victim to a case of special fraud and was swindled out of a total of 3.7 million yen (about $24,400) by three individuals posing as police officers. What caused him to be taken in was a single "arrest warrant."

In mid-January, the man received a call from someone claiming to be a member of the "Radio Regulatory Bureau." "You bought a mobile phone in Shibuya in December, didn't you?" the caller demanded. "Your phone number has been used in a crime, and we're going to suspend its use in two hours."

Though the man had no recollection of such an event, the caller's strong, one-sided and judgmental tone made him anxious.

"Maybe my number has leaked somewhere, and it's been misused," he wondered. Rather than fraud, he suspected there may have been a data breach.

Shortly after, another call came, this time from a man claiming to be from the "Metropolitan Police Department's Cyber Division."

"An account under your name has been opened at the Bank of Columbia in Canada, causing 68 million yen (about $448,000) in damages," the caller said. "You must have received 10% of the profits from money laundering."

The man, now in a panic at being accused as an accomplice, listened as the "detective" continued, "You must have received an arrest warrant."

Shocked, the man checked his mailbox and found an envelope containing what appeared to be an arrest warrant stamped by a judge from the Tokyo District Court.

In reality, arrest warrants are never mailed to a suspect's home, and neither the "Metropolitan Police Department's Cyber Division" nor the "Bank of Columbia in Canada" exist.

However, after being treated as a criminal and being in a hurry to prove his innocence, the man believed their story. Even so, suspicious points remained. All the calls were international, starting with "+1." When he asked the "detective" about this, the person told him "It's a top-secret investigation, so we're not using a regular number." The scammer additionally told him, "There may be accomplices within the police or financial institutions, so don't tell anyone else about this."

Once the man was convinced of the story, the fraud group instructed him to transfer his money.

"To prove your innocence, we want to transfer your money to an account of the Financial Services Agency for investigation," the caller said.

The phone was handed over to a woman claiming to be a detective, apparently aged around her 50s, who guided him to an automatic teller machine while talking with him on the phone.

Apparently because of a limit on transaction amounts, the man could not transfer more than 200,000 yen (about $1,300) in one go. Still, the person on the phone persistently instructed him, "Transfer 200,000 yen daily. Convert the remaining money to cash and send it from the counter."

It was 10 days after the first call that the man finally realized he had been scammed. Even when he was in bed with a fever, the demands for money transfers kept coming, leading him to wonder, "Would the police really say something like this?"

He reported the incident to the police and was able to cut ties with the fraudsters, though his emotional scars remain. Even now, he feels his heart palpitate whenever his mobile phone rings. He wakes up every two or three hours at night, plagued with flashbacks of the fake detective's voice.

"I live alone and don't watch the news that much, so I didn't know there were scams with people claiming to be police officers. If only I had been able to consult with someone about it ..." the man lamented, slumping his shoulders.

While the man lost his retirement savings in the scam, he says, "If another fake call comes in, I'm not confident I'd be able to see through it."

"That's how crafty they were at talking," he reflected. "I want as many people as possible to learn about the scamming techniques and the pain of victims."

(Japanese original by Karen Goto, Hokkaido News Department)