Japanese man gambles away 46.3 million yen relief funds

A Japanese man who was mistakenly sent 46.3 million yen in Covid-19 relief money by a western Japan town is believed to have gambled it all away on overseas casino websites.

The 24-year-old man from the town of Abu in Yamaguchi prefecture is now unlikely to be able to return the money transferred to him in error, said his lawyer.

According to a Kyodo News report, the lawyer on Monday that the man had moved the money out of his account using his smartphone.

The lawyer said the man lived alone and no one else was believed to be involved.

The revelation came after the town sued the man last Thursday for the full return of the funds plus legal fees, amounting to 51 million yen.

On April 6, after procedures to transfer 100,000 yen in Covid-19 relief money to each of the 463 low-income households in Abu had been completed, a town official mistakenly submitted a single transfer request to a financial institution for 46.3 million yen to the man whose name was at the top of the list.

The entire amount was transferred to the man’s bank account on April 8.

The Asahi Shimbun reported

Abu mayor Norihiko Hanada as saying it would be “unforgivable” if the man gambled all the money on casino sites and that it was hard to imagine that such a large sum had been lost in one go.

The lawyer said the man voluntarily agreed to be questioned about the matter by police.

He said the man was cooperating with police and responded to their request for him to appear to explain his circumstances after the town’s banking blunder came to light.

When the town filed the suit against the man, officials said they could not reach or locate him. But the lawyer said that was because his phone was in police possession.

Officials said the money was transferred to other accounts through a series of transactions, some of which were for settlement of credit card payments.