Tokyo police on Thursday arrested a 36-year-old man for allegedly using a stolen bank card to withdraw around 3.5 million yen from a stranger's savings account.
Police arrested Hisataka Shiraishi, an unemployed man with no fixed address, on suspicion of theft. He is believed to have used the same ruse on about 30 other occasions over the past year to steal 35 million yen, police said.
Police believe Shiraishi was operating in collusion with a group of pickpockets and are trying to link them to other crimes and determine the group's identity.
According to investigation, Shiraishi is suspected of using a cash card that was stolen from a 27-year-old Tokyo man as he rode the JR Chuo Line. He withdrew 3.5 million yen from the man's account on June 5 between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m.
Police used images retrieved from surveillance cameras to identify Shiraishi as the suspect. The video cameras also showed that several other men were present when the cash was removed.
According to police, Shiraishi said he deduced the card's PIN number by using information found in the man's wallet, such as the birth date on his driver's license.