A 50-year-old man has been arrested by the Tokyo police for allegedly reselling approximately two hundred video game consoles and games that were set for delivery. The suspect has confessed to the charges.
TV Asahi notes that the value of the consoles totaled 5.8 million yen (A$71,892), and it’s believed that he made over 3 million yen (A$37,185) in profit.
According to Sankei News, the suspect had been entrusted with approximately 200 PlayStation 5s, Nintendo Switches, and games at the request of an acquaintance who worked for a delivery company. But instead of delivering the load, the suspect sold over half the consoles that day to game shops in Tokyo’s Akihabara area.
The Japanese media is reporting that the man is mushoku (無職) or “unemployed.” It is not uncommon for the Japanese media to list the employment status of suspects in criminal cases. In the various reports, the relationship between the suspect and the employee at the delivery company has not been fully fleshed out.
After selling the haul, the suspect stayed at internet cafés throughout Tokyo. In Japan, internet cafés have private booths where it’s possible to sleep. There are also free fizzy soda and showers, which is why some people actually live at internet cafés.
As for the money, it seems like recovering all the cash will be difficult. “I made off with it [the load] because I was having money problems,” the suspect is quoted as saying, adding, “I bet nearly all the money on horse racing.”
It can still be difficult to purchase new PlayStation 5s and Nintendo Switches in game shops in Japan, which is why the hardware fetches good prices on the used market. No doubt the suspect had an easy time reselling the hardware. Spending it on the ponies probably wasn’t hard, either.
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