On May 21, an Ishinomaki woman was arrested after walking out of a convenience store with an extra 45,000 yen [approximately $370] that the store clerk had mistakenly given her as change. Local police say that the woman knew she had received incorrect change and chose not to say anything, which amounts to fraud. The woman denies the charges, saying that she simply didn’t notice the mistake.
On 2ch.net, netizens have generally agreed that the store clerk who made the mistake should be the one held to blame. Some have even suggested that he may have been an accomplice to a deliberate theft, or that he could have colluded with police to entrap an innocent woman. In general, many seem disturbed that something as innocent as failing to double-check the amount of change you receive could lead to such dire consequences. Could this happen to you?
From Sanspo News:
Woman Arrested For Accepting an Extra ¥45,000 of Change: “I Didn’t Notice”
On May 21, the Ishinomaki office of the Miyagi prefectural police arrested a female office worker (47) from Ishinomaki on charges of fraud after she allegedly accepted the money handed to her when a store clerk accidentally gave her an extra ¥45,000 as change. According to the police, the woman is denying the charges, saying “I didn’t notice.”
On March 25, the suspect went to pay the usage fee for her cell phone at a convenience store in Ishinomaki, and allegedly left the store knowing that she had mistakenly been handed about ¥48,000 as change instead of the approximately ¥3,000 she was owed.
According to the police, the fee the woman was paying was about ¥102,000. She paid about ¥105,000, and the store clerk accidentally entered it into the register as ¥150,000.
Comments from 2ch.net:
名無しさん＠１周年:
Arrest the store clerk, too.
名無しさん＠１周年:
Didn’t they think it was weird to have ¥10,000 in change? ww
名無しさん＠１周年:
Was a grade schooler manning the register?
名無しさん＠１周年:
Did she pay ¥100,000 in coins?
名無しさん＠１周年:
Have they arrested the store clerk for being a dumbass?
名無しさん＠１周年:
I’m more surprised at the store clerk…
名無しさん＠１周年:
The store clerk is at a level that should not be given any leeway
名無しさん＠１周年:
This means that a store clerk can just trick someone into committing a crime without any risk to himself, scary
名無しさん＠１周年:
The store clerk was probably an accomplice in the crime!
名無しさん＠１周年:
Retarded store clerk, shoulda thought it was strange that ¥10,000 bills were coming out as change w
名無しさん＠１周年:
What the hell, don’t they always need to double-check the amount of change? If they give you too little change, then it’s your responsibility, but beyond that it’s the store’s job to figure it out.
名無しさん＠１周年:
They could do a sting operation like this, right? w
名無しさん＠１周年:
This store clerk is shit in the first place, but this lady also can’t get away with “I didn’t notice!”
名無しさん＠１周年:
The store clerk made a mistake first, so why isn’t that a crime?
名無しさん＠１周年:
No, the store clerk is an accomplice here. This is some kind of new fraud technique.
名無しさん＠１周年:
So if a customer you hate comes in the shop, you can use this trick on them.
名無しさん＠１周年:
When I get change I just toss the coins in my wallet without counting them, so the day might come when I’m suddenly arrested by the police… What a scary world we live in. But even I count the change when it’s in bills.
名無しさん＠１周年:
If we’re saying this is a crime, then the criminal is probably an amateur w
名無しさん＠１周年:
Well, I’m the type who never looks to confirm the amount, so this is pretty scary.
名無しさん＠１周年:
You’d be surprised at how many people just absentmindedly take their change without noticing something like this.
