A cashier in Tokyo stole the credit card information of 1,300 customers.
By Jessie Yeung and Yoko Wakatsuki, CNN
Updated 6:33 AM ET, Tue September 10, 2019
(CNN)A store cashier in Tokyo been arrested on allegations of stealing the credit card information of 1,300 customers using just one tool — his memory.
The part-time worker was arrested Thursday for stealing credit card details to buy $2,600 (270,000 Japanese yen) worth of bags from online shopping sites last March, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police.
A police source familiar with the investigation told CNN that the man, who worked at a shopping mall in Koto ward, had allegedly memorized customers’ credit card information while processing their orders — then recalled the credit card details later to shop online.
The suspect has a photographic memory and police have found a notebook with card details listed in it, said the source working on the investigation.
He has been in police custody for six days, police say. Japanese investigators can hold any arrested suspect for up to 20 days before they are charged. It is unclear if he has hired an attorney.
A crime committed only with the help of a photographic memory would be one of Japan’s more unique cases of credit card theft — but certainly not the biggest. In 2016, a group of thieves used about 1,600 forged cards to withdraw money from 1,400 cash machines across Japan. In just over two hours, they stole $13 million.
