The Chinese president of a company in Tokyo has been arrested on suspicion of having students from China studying in Japan buy Apple computers using a student discount, then reselling the products abroad, Tokyo police said Wednesday.
Zhao Zhicheng, a 35-year-old resident of Tokyo’s Itabashi Ward who heads computer retailer Teishin, denies the claims.
The Metropolitan Police Department arrested Zhao on an initial charge of having students buy 18 MacBook computers, valued at about ¥5.7 million ($37,900), from the Ginza and Shibuya Apple Stores in Tokyo on May 14, 2024, using the student discount while hiding the fact he planned to resell them.
Through the scheme, police believe Zhao was able to obtain around 700 MacBooks and other products, valued at around ¥130 million, while saving about ¥10 million thanks to the student discount.
According to police, Zhao handed a few of his company's corporate credit cards to a Chinese woman affiliated with a crime syndicate known as the Chinese Dragon, who then had the students buy the computers, police said.
The woman, who has been indicted for fraud, was arrested in January on suspicion of using Chinese students studying in Japan to buy MacBooks for resale.
The students who bought the computers were allegedly made to bring them to Teishin the same day they were purchased. The computers were then believed to have been sent abroad for resale through a different company in Japan, police said.
Zhao allegedly had the same students visit multiple stores in order to buy more computers, they said.
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