May 19 (UPI) -- A man in southwestern Japan who mistakenly received over $360,000 in COVID-19 relief funds before gambling it all away was arrested on charges of computer fraud, police confirmed Thursday.
A total of 46.3 million Japanese yen was meant to be evenly distributed to 463 low-income households in the town of Abu, but town officials instead wired the entire amount to the bank account of a 24-year-old unemployed man in early April.
The man, identified in media reports as Sho Taguchi, was arrested Wednesday by Yamaguchi Prefecture police. According to a police statement, the suspect committed fraud when he transferred some of the funds to another account via his smartphone.
Taguchi eventually lost the entire amount gambling in online casinos and is unable to repay the town, his lawyer told reporters earlier this week, according to the Asahi Shimbun. Abu's mayor, Norihiko Hanada, called the man's alleged actions "unforgivable."
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After weeks of stalling, the suspect eventually told town officials that he no longer had the money, Hanada said. The town sued him to recover the funds last week.
On Thursday, Hanada said the arrest would reveal the flow of the money and held out hope that it wasn't all gone.
"I want to collect the full amount in the proceedings," he said, according to the Mainichi Shimbun.
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The case is being widely covered in national news media and has sparked public outrage in Japan, with the mayor saying his office has been inundated with angry calls and emails.
Taguchi withdrew the funds in 34 transactions between April 8 and 18, according to a report by Japanese broadcaster NHK, and was left with just $532 after gambling it away.
Japan has one of the world's highest rates of severe gambling problems, an academic study published in March found.
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Asahi and number 13 please!! I love your writing so so much, 💖
아사히 + #13
22:15 - “what are you doing?” you asked, watching your boyfriend try to sneak into his bedroom, where you were already laying on the bed, “i thought the members are all here? are they gone?”
asahi shook his head slightly, beginning to get into his pyjamas.
“so why are you here?” you chuckled, “go back out.”
asahi frowned, coming towards you and throwing himself down onto the bed.
“human battery run low?” you asked with a slight laugh.
asahi laughed too, only slightly, but the amused look stayed as he looked into your eyes and nodded, “yeah. but i prefer being with you anyway.”
you smiled, swinging your leg over his as he wrapped his arm around your body.
“i don’t like cuddling, you know,” asahi said, closing his eyes.
you shook your head, “you love it, really.”
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Treasure as things John Mulaney has said✨
Yoshi: “Excuse me, I’m new in town and it gets worse.”
Mashiho: “I have had a very long day. I am very small. And I have no money. So you can imagine the kind of stress that I am under.”
Haruto: “Sometimes babies will point at me and I do not care for that shit at all.”
Jungwhan: “They’re like, ‘Does that work?’ I’m like, ‘It didn’t NOT work.’”
Asahi: “I’ll keep all my emotions right here, and then one day I’ll die.”
Junkyu: “When I’m walking down the street, no one’s ever like, ‘Hey look at that man.’ I think they’re just like, ‘Whoa, that tall child looks terrible! Get some rest, tall child! You can’t keep burning the candle at both ends!’”
Hyunsuk: “Part of me was like, whatever - You know those days when you’re like this might as well happen? Adult life is already so goddamn weird.”
Yedam: "I was sitting up in bed a few weeks ago like *groans* You know, life?"
Jaehyuk: "When I walk down the street, I need everybody, all day long, to like me so much."
Doyoung: “And then I said, ‘No.’ Y’know, like a liar.
Jihoon: “You have the moral backbone of a chocolate eclair.”
Jeongwoo: “Top three colleges? I thought I’d be dead in a trunk with my hand hanging out of the tail light by now.”
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