OSAKA: Japanese police have arrested 90 members of a group in the western prefecture of Osaka for their alleged involvement in investment fraud using social media, people familiar with the investigation said Wednesday.

The number of arrested people is believed to be the largest in an investment fraud case using social media in Japan.

The arrests came as investigators from the Osaka prefectural police department searched four buildings in the city of Osaka Tuesday as part of the investigation into the group.

Eight members of the group, including 43-year-old leader Yoshihiko Yamada, were first arrested on Tuesday.

Around 1,800 smartphones, 60 computers, manuals and other items were seized in Tuesday’s raid.

Yamada and the others were arrested on suspicion of swindling a woman in her 20s out of around 900,000 yen earlier this year under the pretense of instruction fees and product purchases related to trading in binary options to bet on currency rate fluctuations.

The police believe that there are several victims of scams operated by the group, with the total amount of fraud damage expected to reach 950 million yen.

JIJI Press