Chisako Takashima, victim of special fraud: "It was the first time in my life that I've experienced such fear."

Violinist Chisako Takashima appeared on Tetsuko Kuroyanagi's long-running talk show "Tetsuko's Room" (TV Asahi) on September 30th, where she spoke about how she became a victim of a special fraud scheme.

"I was shocked to hear you were scammed," Tetsuko said in surprise, to which Takashima replied, "Yes, it is. I think it's a type of scam that's popular these days. I'm the type that's least likely to fall for it."

One time, he answered a call from an unknown number and the caller said, "My name is Ito from the Kanto Regional Telecommunications Bureau. Many people have been scammed using your mobile phone number. If you don't go to the Bayside Police Station immediately, they will cut off your mobile phone service within two hours." He described the initial conversation.

When Takashima said he couldn't go to Wangan Police Station, he was connected to Tanaka from Wangan Police Station, who said, "I'll put you on an internal line as a special favor." He said it was a detective. "(Tanaka) said he was going to interrogate me now, so let's talk on LINE. From here on, he said, you're a suspect, so he'd like to ask you a lot of questions. I could hear him talking on the speaker in the background. He asked to see my driver's license, so I showed him both the front and back," he recalled.

Filled with anxiety, Takashima was branded a "money laundering suspect." "(Tanaka) said, 'From now on, let's talk every two hours and clear the suspicion.' He told me, to my shame, that he had an informant in the police, and that I should never tell anyone about this situation. He suddenly started speaking in an exaggerated way, and I became scared," she said.

Takashima says she was unable to talk to her husband about it because the perpetrator told her not to tell anyone. She was also told not to look it up online, so at first she complied. Takashima thought it was strange but continued to communicate with Tanaka, but when her son looked it up on his old cell phone, it came up as "fraud." This was the third day after the first call.

When she called the police, she was told that the "Bayside Police Station" does not exist and that "the people most likely to fall for it are those who answer 10 questions." She said, "It was the first time in my life that I had such a scary experience. My husband told me, 'You're really stupid!' and he got really angry, which was unusual for me, and I felt really down." She also urged viewers to "not answer unknown calls. I think it would be a good idea to turn on your answering machine."