Woman, 93, outwits scammer, helps get him arrested, police say

A 93-year-old woman in western Japan outsmarted a suspected scammer by pretending to fall for the scheme and helping police arrest him at her home, a police official told AFP on Monday.

Japan has the second-oldest population in the world after Monaco, and senior citizens are often targeted by fraudsters, who last year collectively stole around 325.7 billion yen ($2.0 billion) from their victims.

The woman, who lives in the Shiga region, received telephone calls from Wednesday through Thursday last week from a man who claimed to be a police officer.

The caller falsely informed her that her bank account had experienced an unauthorized withdrawal.

The woman was told to give her ATM card to a man, posing as a police officer, who would visit her so authorities could verify her account.

Suspecting a scam, the woman consulted her son and the police as she waited for the man to visit her house.

"The person's family reached out to the police on Wednesday evening, and we were able to have officers at her house" before the scammer arrived on Thursday, a local police official told AFP on the customary condition of anonymity.

When a 47-year-old man appeared at her doorstep, waiting officers arrested him on the spot, the police official said.

"The person (the woman) is someone in good health and highly articulate," the official said, while urging other elderly residents to consult family members when they suspect fraud.