After Suspected Scam Call, 93-Year-Old Lays a Trap

A suspected scam caller picked the wrong 93-year-old. Police in Japan say a woman in the Shiga region helped foil an alleged fraud attempt by playing along with a man who phoned her repeatedly, claiming to be a police officer and warning of unauthorized withdrawals from her bank account, per AFP. He instructed her to hand over her ATM card to another "officer" who would stop by. Instead, she alerted her son and local police, who quietly stationed officers at her home. When a 47-year-old man showed up Thursday to collect the card, officers arrested him on the spot.

Authorities describe the woman as sharp and in good health and urge other older residents to consult family if they suspect a scam. Japan, with the second-oldest population of any country in the world, saw fraudsters steal $2 billion from its citizens last year. The National Police have specifically warned about scammers posing as officers, sometimes adopting the phone numbers of actual police stations, per Mainichi Shimbun.