77-year-old man swindled out of Y10 mil through 'It's me' fraud

A 77-year-old man in Higashimatsuyama, Saitama Prefecture, was swindled out of 10 million yen in a case of the so-called "It's me" fraud, police said Thursday. The man received a phone call on Dec 17 from a person pretending to be his son and who said, "I'm involved in a scandal at the office...would you send money to the bank account of my supervisor?"
The victim believed that the caller was his 49-year-old son, who now lives in Hokkaido, "as the voice was similar," and transferred a total of 10 million yen on five occasions by Dec 20, according to investigators. When the man talked to his son during the New Year's holiday period, he realized he had become a victim of fraud and informed the police.