Man in Japan gambles COVID town funds mistakenly sent to him

By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press

TOKYO (AP) — The money was supposed to be COVID-19 assistance for low-income households in a small Japanese town, but police say it was mistakenly wired to a bank account of a resident who refused to return it and spent most of it on online gambling. Police have arrested 24-year-old Sho Taguchi, a jobless resident of Abu town in western Japan, on suspicion of computer fraud. According to Kyodo News agency, only $530 out of $360,000 is left in his bank account after he withdrew the money 34 times in just over 10 days after the town made the mistake. Police say he allegedly refused the request to return the money. His name was the first on the list of recipients and officials are investigating what went wrong.