Nepalese man posed as ‘Shohei Ohtani' online in defrauding Tokyo woman
Suman Kumar Niure, 26, allegedly worked with his father to pose as the star for the Los Angeles Dodgers on social media in swindling the 80-year-old woman in Minato Ward out of 1 million yen last November.
According to police, Niure found the woman on Facebook and sent false messages to her via chat app Line while posing as Ohtani over several months.
'I'm the best person in the world, so my insurance premiums are really high,' he wrote. 'I've paid tens of millions of yen in insurance premiums, but it's not enough. I want you to pay me 1 million yen in insurance premiums.' Suman Kumar Niure (X)
If the victim called, he evaded her. 'The game is about to start so I can't answer the phone right now. I'm in a hurry,' he wrote.
When the suspect visited the victim's home to collect the 1 million yen, he pretended to be 'Shohei Otani's agent.'
Most of the stolen money was later transferred to an account belonging to the suspect's father, 44-year-old Nasu Padma Shalmar, who was also arrested.
TV Asahi interviewed the mother of Niure, who operates a curry shop somewhere in the capital. 'It's in the red because of COVID,' she says of the shop. 'They don't have any money anymore.'
Regarding the scam, she says, 'I don't know anything. I really don't know anything.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Japan Today
2 days ago
- Japan Today
Former US soldier suspected of killing 4 in Montana remains at large
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen speaks to the media Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025 in front of the Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Courthouse in Anaconda, Mont., about the ongoing search for shooting suspect Michael Brown. (Joseph Scheller/The Montana Standard via AP) By SAFIYAH RIDDLE The former U.S. soldier suspected of killing four people at a Montana bar was still at large early Sunday and may be armed after escaping in a stolen vehicle containing clothes and camping gear, officials said. Authorities believe 45-year-old Michael Paul Brown killed four people on Friday morning at The Owl Bar in Anaconda, Montana, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southeast of Missoula in a valley hemmed in by mountains. Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen said at a press conference Sunday that Brown committed the shooting with a rifle that law enforcement believes was his personal weapon. The victims ranged in age from 59 to 74 and were a female bartender and three male patrons. Knudsen warned residents in the town of just over 9,000 people that Brown, who lived next door to the bar where he was a regular, could come back to the area. 'This is an unstable individual who walked in and murdered four people in cold blood for no reason whatsoever. So there absolutely is concern for the public,' Knudsen said. Numerous public events were canceled over the weekend as the search entered its third day, according to local Facebook pages. Investigators are considering all possible options for Brown's whereabouts, the attorney general said. That includes searching the woods where Brown hunted and camped while he was a kid. But Knudsen noted that, during peak tourist season in western Montana, some law enforcement officials would have to return to their local jurisdictions for their regular responsibilities. Brown served in the Army as an armor crewman from 2001 to 2005 and deployed to Iraq from early 2004 until March 2005, according to Lt. Col. Ruth Castro, an Army spokesperson. Brown was in the Montana National Guard from 2006 to March 2009, Castro said, and left military service at the rank of sergeant. Brown's niece, Clare Boyle, told the AP her uncle has struggled with mental illness for years and she and other family members repeatedly sought help. 'This isn't just a drunk/high man going wild,' she said in a Facebook message. 'It's a sick man who doesn't know who he is sometimes and frequently doesn't know where or when he is either.' Knudsen said on Sunday that Brown was 'known' to local law enforcement before the shooting. It was widely believed that he knew at least some of the victims, given how close he lived to the bar. Law enforcement released a photograph of Brown from surveillance footage taken shortly after the fatal shootings. He appeared to be barefoot and in minimal clothing. But law enforcement now believes Brown ditched the vehicle he escaped in and stole a different one that had camping gear, shoes and clothes in it — leaving open the possibility that Brown is now clothed. The last time that law enforcement saw Brown was on Friday afternoon, but there was 'some confusion' because there were multiple white vehicles involved, Knudsen said. There is a $7,500 reward for any information that leads to Brown's capture. 'This is still Montana. Montanans know how to take care of themselves. But please, if you have any sightings, call 911,' Knudsen said. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Tokyo Reported
5 days ago
- Tokyo Reported
Gang of four attacks Chinese men near JR Kanda Station
TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police are hunting for four men who attacked two male Chinese nationals in Chiyoda Ward on Thursday, reports Fuji News Network (Aug. 1). At just after 9:00 a.m., the four assailants used metal pipes to attack the pair, both aged in their 30s, as they walked on the sidewalk near JR Kanda Station. The two victims, who suffered injuries to their faces and other parts of their bodies, were taken a to hospital. Their injuries are not considered life-threatening, police said. The four then fled the scene in a car with a license plate registered in Osaka Prefecture. The car was later found abandoned in Adachi Ward, about 9 kilometers from the crime scene. The four assailants were wearing work clothes at the time of the incident. Police are seeking their whereabouts on suspicion of assault. A gang of four attacked two Chinese men with metal pipes near JR Kanda Station on Thursday morning (X) 'Just kept hitting him' At a little after 10:00 a.m., the rented car pulled into a parking space at an apartment complex in Adachi. It drove forward once, then backed up into the space. 'When I came out, I saw a car I didn't recognize parked in my spot,' a resident of the building told Nippon News Network (Aug. 1). About one hour before, the assault near JR Kanda Station took place. 'They were hitting [one of the victims] with a pipe. They were hitting him so hard that even when he managed to get away, the group just kept hitting him with all their might,' a witness said. Security cameras near the scene captured images of the two men, believed to be the victims, at the time of their incident. Their faces were covered in blood, and one of them was being supported as he walked away. 'I saw them as we passed by and their faces were red,' another witness said. 'They were bright red.' One witness intervened: 'I heard loud voices. I looked out the window and saw the fight,' the witness said. 'I put on a helmet and tried to stop them. I said, 'What are you guys doing?' They were hitting them with an iron pipe, and they stopped once, but then one guy kept hitting them. I told them to stop again, 'Stop it,' and then they stopped and ran away.' Another witness said that it was odd for the perpetrators to be wearing hoodies in this heat, implying that it was an ambush. 'All four of them were wearing hoodies, hoodies, and masks. It seemed like they were lying in wait. They were hitting the victim as a group, with all their might,' the witness said.
Asahi Shimbun
5 days ago
- Asahi Shimbun
Macao police arrest former pro-democracy lawmaker for colluding with foreign forces
Veteran pro-democracy activist and former lawmaker Au Kam San poses for a photo during an interview in Macao, Oct. 7, 2024. (AP Photo) HONG KONG--Police in Macao detained a man believed to be a prominent pro-democracy advocate on suspicion of colluding with outside forces in breach of the national security law. Local media outlets reported former pro-democracy lawmaker Au Kam San was the suspect. A police statement Thursday said the 68-year-old Macao resident with the surname Au allegedly colluded with an anti-China group outside of the city and provided false and seditious materials for public display online or abroad. The man, whose full name was not disclosed in the statement, also was accused of maintaining long-term contact with multiple anti-China entities outside of Macao and repeatedly providing unfounded information to them or their media outlets for dissemination. 'This was intended to incite hatred against China's central government and Macao's government among Macao residents and even people from other countries who may not understand the truth,' police said. The authorities added that the acts aimed to undermine Macao's 2024 chief executive election and trigger hostile actions by foreign countries against Macao. Au was taken from his home Wednesday afternoon for investigation, they said. Local media outlets in Hong Kong and Macao reported the man was Au. Online outlet All About Macao said it was the first publicly known arrest under the national security law after the legislation was enacted in 2009 and revised in 2023. Au's wife arrived at the prosecution's office on Thursday and was listed as a 'witness,' the outlet added. The Associated Press could not reach Au by phone Thursday afternoon. Au served as a pro-democracy lawmaker in Macao's legislature dominated by Beijing loyalists before stepping down in 2021. He remained a rare voice in the city who still regularly criticized government measures and political development on Facebook and in media interviews. Since the former Portuguese colony returned to Chinese rule in 1999, Macao has grown from a monopoly-driven gambling enclave into the world's biggest gaming hub. Under Beijing's grip, its pro-democracy camp was never as influential as the one in neighboring city Hong Kong, which is a former British colony that returned to China in 1997. Its government also faced far less massive protests challenging its rule when compared to Hong Kong. More intrusive political controls were introduced to the casino hub in recent years, especially after huge anti-government protests in Hong Kong in 2019 that led Beijing to crack down on virtually all public dissent. A vigil commemorating China's bloody 1989 military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests was banned. Pro-democracy figures were barred from running in Macao's 2021 legislative elections. Earlier this month, an incumbent lawmaker known for his centrist stance was also disqualified from running in this year's legislative election.
