Japanese Man Loses $5.26 Million to Police Impersonation Crypto Scam

A 65-year-old man in Japan lost approximately $5.26 million in cryptocurrency to scammers posing as police officers.

The man, who lives in Hyogo prefecture, was told by the scammers that his bank account was connected to multiple complaints.

He was instructed to convert his deposits and securities holdings into cryptocurrency to prove his innocence, which he did, depositing the assets into a personal wallet.

Between September 7th and 17th, the cryptocurrency moved in 10 transactions to addresses controlled by the scammers, totaling approximately 826 million yen ($5.26 million).