Prison Confession by Luffy Robbery Gang Inmate Risa Yamada Reveals Shocking Details of Special Fraud Techniques

《Summary of Previous Installments》

Risa Yamada (27), born and raised in a poor family in Kawagoe City, Saitama Prefecture, spent her days immersed in the nightlife of Kabukicho, Shinjuku, after graduating from a night high school. One day, feeling anxious about her current situation, she found a dark job advertisement on Twitter (now X) and traveled to the Philippines in 2019 to work as a scammer for a large sum of money. There, she met Yuki Watanabe, an executive of the “Luffy Robbery Gang,” which would later shock Japan with its special fraud and robbery activities. In Watanabe’s group, Yamada became known as the “legendary scammer” who defrauded 30 million yen a month, but soon after, their base was raided by the local police.

 

Torture Inside the Box

The “box” that Yamada was part of in the Philippines, a general term for special fraud groups, was called A. The boss of this box was Watanabe. In November 2019, when the A box and ST box, based at the West Makati Hotel, were simultaneously raided by Philippine authorities, the executives and Yamada managed to avoid arrest.

According to her testimony, “The executives, who had connections with the police, the governor, and local mafias, paid money to the authorities and then ‘selected’ and ‘saved’ the core members.” Those who could be useful for their operations were protected, while others were ruthlessly discarded. This is the essence of the Luffy group. 

“Even after the raid, I was still earning (extorting) about 30 million yen a month. Looking back, it seems that the members of the box managed by the Luffy group were very strongly controlled by fear.

They enjoyed watching new recruits suffer after being given alcohol laced with large amounts of laxatives, and there were instances where members who said ‘I want to go home’ suddenly disappeared. Later, I heard a story that that person disappeared because they tried to return home, so we said they died of illness. There were also tortures such as repeatedly pushing faces into a water tank to suffocate them, hitting their heads with a gun, or forcing them to crawl on all fours and inserting and removing a toothbrush from their anus.

There was also an incident where Seiya Fujita, who was in charge of Box A along with Mr. Watanabe, suddenly yelled at one of the members in front of everyone and slapped them repeatedly. I also saw a video showing a lynching of a recruit who tried to back out, including having their ears cut off. They also talked about having murder videos. If I slack off even a little or if Mr. Fujita was in a bad mood, I would be threatened with ‘I’ll kill you!’ through the messaging app Telegram. The suffering was so intense that I thought of quitting at least five times. However, because I saw the threats up close, I was scared and thought that if I worked hard, I might avoid being killed. I believe other members felt the same way.”

After the raid in November 2019, Box A was relocated to another hotel in Makati City. After that, it moved to a hotel in Bacolod City, 700 kilometers away by plane, and then sequentially to Boracay Island and Luzon Island. During this period, Yamada also visited the box called ‘Headquarters’ under Watanabe’s instructions.

“After checking into the hotel in Bacolod, Mr. Watanabe asked me to check on the situation at Headquarters. I went alone to the Manila box and worked as a caller for two weeks. At Headquarters, there were about 30 well-known semi-gangs and yakuza members, and I heard that 80% of them had killed people in Japan. The official name of Headquarters is too frightening to reveal. I have also met members of the Japanese criminal organization ‘JP Dragon,’ which was reported as the mastermind behind the Luffy group and is based in the Philippines. Although they might seem young, many of them were actually in their 40s and 50s.”

Frustrations with Fellow Members

Box A lived together in a rented house on Boracay Island. Yamada reflects that he sensed certain characteristics of those applying for shadow jobs.

“Our box had about 40 members, ranging in age from their 10s to their 60s. There were also women among them. Many of them were the type who wanted to earn money easily. Most people who join special fraud groups are not accustomed to being reprimanded. However, in special fraud, there are many more opportunities to be scolded than in ordinary jobs. There was a significant gap there.

Therefore, those without a strong will to earn money at any cost would never make any money. Even so, Box A was relatively lenient compared to other boxes. While Box ST would immediately fire callers who couldn’t earn, Box A feared being reported and avoided cutting people as much as possible. Mr. Watanabe ran the box with the policy of ‘let’s all earn together,’ and I thought of him as the best boss in Japan.”

However, at the same time, a disparity in work volume emerged. There were even instances where Yamada showed signs of anger towards members of the same group.

“For example, Hitomi Kumai (arrested for theft in 2023). When she was apprehended, she cried like a child, saying she was anxious about the future, ‘Waa, waa.’ Since what she was doing was criminal, she should have been prepared for anything that might happen, but she wasn’t. Kumai was not only involved in using seductive tactics but was also irresponsible with her work. I even thought she came here to find a man.

In fact, Kairi Fujita, who dated Kumai and was arrested for theft in 2023, boasted about having graduated from Aoyama Gakuin University. It was later found to be a lie, but there were also people claiming to be alumni of the Tokyo Six Universities. Some had wealthy parents but felt a sense of stagnation in their lives in Japan and had given up on working hard. Kairi also said he came here because he was bored with Japan.

After moving the base from a hotel to a private house, everyone began spending more time together in the living room. There was a vibe like drinking, playing games, or having a driving license boot camp. Couples formed, and it felt like a share house of a special fraud group. Some, like Kairi, would lie about their educational background and history, bragging about having many friends in Setagaya Ward, among other things. It was really trivial, and I watched it all with a cold eye, thinking, ‘Just do some work before talking about anything.”

Within the group, there were only 2 to 3 people, including Yamada, who could defraud over 10 million yen a month. Relying solely on manuals had its limits. That was the conclusion reached by Yamada, who was a top player. What kind of scam talk did he actually use?

“The group had a script (a manual for scam talk), but we rarely spoke according to the manual; instead, we adapted to each situation. The callers would make over 100 calls a day, using a website called ‘Jusho de Pon!’ which compiled addresses, names, and phone numbers, and would randomly make calls. The callers in our group almost always pretended to be police officers. Japanese people are vulnerable to authoritative titles such as police, banks, and government agencies. We strongly felt this. At the time, I even thought it was strange if someone didn’t get deceived.

We only discussed things that seemed plausible. That’s why we were able to deceive people. For example, we would say, ‘This is Igarashi from the XX Police Department. An employee of XX Bank has been arrested for fraud. There is information regarding your account, and it might be misused.

This would be handled by the first line, which verifies account balances and personal information, and then handed over to the second line to report the damage and extract PINs and other details. The third line then gives instructions to those in Japan responsible for withdrawing cash, and so on.

I was responsible for the first and second lines, with first line calls lasting about 5 minutes. Keeping people on the line too long is not good. On the other hand, the second line might take about an hour. The organization had hundreds of callers, and there were several hundred to a thousand people involved in withdrawing cash, rotating in and out.”

The target is instantly recognizable.

Yamada also mentions the intuition of a scam caller.

“Manuals for special fraud are always updated. Therefore, the publication of the manual is meaningless. The remnants of the organization create new originals every day. Additionally, you can almost tell whether someone will be deceived by the tone of their ‘hello.’ Those who shout loudly or believe they are fine are more likely to become victims, and the intuition of scam callers is surprisingly accurate. To avoid being deceived by special fraud, the only solution is not to engage at all. That is the only way.”

In April 2021, Watanabe, who was internationally wanted for fraud and extortion, was detained at a five-star hotel in Manila. Since then, Yamada has reflected, ‘I began to feel that the group was reaching its limits.’

“After the executives were detained, the share for those making calls increased from 5% to 8% of sales. While this was pleasing, there were also aspects where each person started acting freely. I also strongly felt, ‘This box won’t last much longer. I don’t want to live by crime until I die.’

Furthermore, I was worried about my mother living alone in Japan and began to think, ‘I want to return even if I have to atone for my crimes.’ In January 2023, I went to the Japanese embassy myself and was detained. Subsequently, I was placed in the Bicutan Detention Center, which became famous for housing many executives of the Luffy group.”

In this way, Yamada reunited with Watanabe, Fujita, and other executives at the Bicutan Detention Center. There was also the presence of one of the executives who went by the name ‘Luffy,’ Kiyoto Imamura, which was Yamada’s first meeting with him. Yamada had never been involved in crimes other than special fraud calls, having clearly drawn that line.

However, discussions about ‘robbery’ were being held among the executives in the detention center. There, Yamada would confront a different side of Watanabe, whom he had once admired as the best boss in Japan.

(Some titles in the text are omitted. To be continued in the next issue.)

Interview and text by: Shimei Kurita (Non-fiction writer)
Born in 1987. Covers a wide range of topics including sports, economics, incidents, and international affairs. Author of ‘Surviving the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Taxi Industry’s Survival’ and ‘Aim for Koshien! The Unwavering Challenge of the Academic High School Baseball Team,’ among other books.

From the July 26/August 2, 2024 issue of FRIDAY