A 93-year-old in Japan spotted a fake police call, told her son and real officers, and a 47-year-old man was arrested at her door. Here is the lesson.
A 93-year-old woman in Shiga Prefecture, Japan, helped police catch a scammer who pretended to be a police officer. Local police reported the case on Monday, October 26, 2026. A 47-year-old man was arrested when he came to her home.
The woman got several phone calls from a man who said he was police. He told her someone had tried to withdraw money from her account. He then asked for her ATM card, saying it would be checked during a visit to her home.
She was not convinced. She called her son and the local police. Her family contacted police on Wednesday night. Officers waited at her home before the caller arrived on Thursday. He was taken to the police station.
Fraud aimed at older people is a serious problem in Japan. The report says such scams could take up to US$2 billion in savings from seniors by 2025. Police urge older people and their families to report any unknown phone or online contact about their money right away.
The report does not name the man or list charges. It does not say whether he worked alone or how much money was at risk.
If a caller claiming to be police asks for your bank card, hang up and call family or the real police.
North Dakota lawmakers are looking at HB 1447, a bill meant to help prevent crypto fraud, and AARP wants residents to speak up.
Read more: North Dakota weighs a bill to curb crypto scamsA user says Anthropic's Claude Code put his email in web requests, then scam messages arrived. The link is unproven, but it shows what AI tools can share.
Read more: User says Claude Code sent his email address to websitesA fake call in Truro, Canada, sent a police tactical team to a woman's home. An RCMP officer now shares plain rules for spotting phone scams.
Read more: Canadian police share simple rules to beat phone scammers
