A Japanese and four Chinese nationals have been arrested for allegedly using other people's credit card data to purchase shinkansen train tickets online, police said Monday, with the damage possibly totaling to more than 300 million yen ($2 million).
The suspects include Zhang Xiyu, a 28-year-old Chinese citizen with no fixed address, and Yoshisuke Hayashida, a 55-year-old Japanese company executive living in Kobe, western Japan. They have been sent to prosecutors.
About 140 million yen in damage has been confirmed in the case that the police have established, but the total could be larger, with around 780 people's credit card information likely to have been unlawfully used.
The five, in collusion with others, are believed to have purchased bullet train tickets on the websites of West Japan Railway Co. and Kyushu Railway Co., and printed the tickets out at JR Shin-Osaka Station and elsewhere between February and April.
The police suspect that the five were using cards that contained other people's information. Hayashida allegedly bought the stolen tickets from the four other suspects and sold them to ticket resellers.
The five were arrested on suspicion of theft and unauthorized creation of electronic or magnetic records.
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