HIROSHIMA (TR) – A person posing as an authority determine right here exploited Japan’s newly carried out bicycle site visitors legal guidelines to swindle a highschool scholar out of money, police revealed, experiences TV Asahi (Apr. 10).
The incident occurred in Kure City round 8:00 a.m. on April 4. The male sufferer, a highschool scholar, was driving his bicycle and had simply crossed the highway onto a sidewalk when he was intercepted by a lone man.
According to police, the suspect — described as being in his 50s and wearing darkish blue work garments resembling a uniform — falsely claimed the teenager had dedicated a site visitors violation beneath the newly enacted “blue ticket” enforcement system.
“You didn’t use hand signals,” the person informed {the teenager}. “The law changed on April 4, and you have to use hand signals. It’s a violation, so you need to pay 2,000 yen”.
Intimidated by the encounter, {the teenager} handed over the two,000 yen in money on the spot. The brazen rip-off got here to mild after the sufferer later reported the incident to the Hiroshima Prefectural Police.
Inconsistencies
Authorities identified a number of obvious inconsistencies within the con artist’s claims. The new blue ticket system for cyclists, which targets riders aged 16 and older, really went into impact on April 1, not April 4. Furthermore, the precise superb for failing to make use of hand indicators is 5,000 yen.
Most importantly, police harassed that officers will completely by no means gather superb cash instantly from violators in money on the road. Official site visitors penalties have to be paid by way of a chosen monetary establishment.
With the latest rollout of the brand new site visitors laws, police are urging the general public to be on excessive alert for comparable scams concentrating on susceptible people, significantly younger individuals who could also be unaware of official authorized procedures. Investigators are at present trying to find the suspect on suspicion of fraud.