On the afternoon of Jan. 26, 1948, a man claiming to be a public health official walked into a branch of Teikoku Ginko (Imperial Bank) in Tokyo's Shiinamachi district and told all 16 people present that dysentery had broken out in the neighborhood.
After handing bank clerks a business card that identified him as an epidemiologist, the man told everyone present to drink a few drops of liquid he claimed was a remedy. The liquid, however, was actually poison.
Twelve of the 16 people died, and the man escaped with cash and checks worth ¥160,000.
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