Alleged No. 2 of Japan's JP Dragon Fraud Ring Arrested in the Philippines Over ¥900 Million in Phone Scams
Yoshitaka Yamamoto, 57, the alleged second-in-command of the Japanese fraud syndicate known as JP Dragon, was arrested on October 31 in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, the Philippine Bureau of Immigration announced on November 1. Immigration Commissioner Joel Anthony M. Viado said Yamamoto was arrested by the bureau's Fugitive Search Unit under deportation warrant No. 2023-160, issued on July 18, 2023, and is being held at the bureau's warden facility pending deportation to Japan.
A Fukuoka Summary Court warrant issued on December 27, 2022, charges Yamamoto with fraud, theft and attempted theft. Investigators in Japan and the Philippines say JP Dragon members, operating from the Philippines since 2019, posed as police officers and other officials in phone calls that defrauded about 250 elderly victims in Japan of a combined ¥900 million. The syndicate's alleged leader, Ryuji Yoshioka, was arrested in the Philippines in 2025.
The bureau said Yamamoto claimed to be Korean when he was arrested. Philippine immigration authorities said they would continue hunting foreign fugitives hiding in the country and deport them to face trial at home.
Source: Philippines Bureau of Immigration
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于马尼拉王城区（Intramuros）的菲律宾移民局总部大楼。Elmer B. Domingo 摄，CC BY-SA 3.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Bureau of Immigration headquarters in Intramuros, Manila. By Elmer B. Domingo, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
