The 30-year-old fire chief at a fire station in the Tokyo city of Hachioji was arrested for defrauding a woman into giving him three of her used swimsuits. Takumi Murakami told the woman via Facebook, “Do you have any athletic swimsuits that you are not using? I’m collecting swimsuits for swim teams in foreign countries that can’t afford to buy their own, so I’d be very grateful if you could help me.”
Via Japan Kyo:
The woman Murakami contacted did not give him any of her swimsuits, however, in May a friend of the woman, also in her 20s, gave Murakami three of hers. Shortly thereafter, one of the woman found that the donated swimsuits were being sold via the virtual marketplace app Mercari. When confronted Murakami admitted to to lying and selling the donated swimsuits.
Police arrested Murakami on charges of fraud. He has admitted to the charges saying “I wanted to make some extra spending money.” He has also admitted to having done this before a number of times.