Bad target: Japanese swindler fails to con cop

0 Comments | AFP, April, 2006

TOKYO (AFP) — A Japanese swindler truly picked the wrong building to target when a stranger he tried to scam turned out to be a senior police officer.

Masakazu Kamitanida, 52, went to the top floor of a three-story apartment after midnight Sunday and tried to pass himself off as fellow resident who needed to borrow cash because of a death in the family.

What Kamitanida did not know was the building was an official residence for executives of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police -- and he was trying to fool the chief of Joto precinct.

The swindler identified himself as a second-floor resident who had recently moved in. What he did not know was the person who really lived on the second floor was the deputy chief of nearby Asakusa precinct.

"The suspect had...