A police sergeant was referred to prosecutors on November 7 by the Osaka Prefectural Police the suspicion of illegal use of electronic currency that was swindled in a special case of fraud, according to investigative sources.

The 40-year-old officer previously worked at the Ibaraki Police Station. He has been assigned to the special fraud investigation section of the prefectural police since this spring.

The officer has denied some of the allegations, sources said, but prefectural police plan to take disciplinary action against him.

According to the sources, while the officer was handling special fraud investigations at the Ibaraki Police Station’s Criminal Division, there were several cases where elderly victims were tricked into buying e-money cards from convenience stores. to suspected fraudsters.

These criminals steal the code number from the e-money card over the internet and use it for payments and other purposes.

After purchasing the card, the victims gave the code number to the suspects. But it is believed that some of the code numbers were not transmitted accurately and some of the codes were not actually used.

According to the sources, the officer is suspected of adding such electronic currency to his smartphone between the end of 2023 and this spring, making about 800,000 yen ($5,200) available.

The officer reportedly used some of the electronic money to play smartphone games.

The officer told investigators, “I had no intention of taking the electronic money for myself” and “I was trying to protect the victim’s property,” according to the sources.

The special fraud investigation section of the prefectural police, to which the officer belongs, was established in 2022 to strengthen measures against special fraud.

In 2022, the total damage from special fraud cases identified by the prefectural police was 3.1 billion yen. The figure rose to ¥3.6 billion in 2023.