Thai immigration police arrested a Japanese man on suspicion he fabricated an official document declaring him dead to claim $5.81 million from an insurance firm, the police has said.
Ichiro Ogushi, 33, was found in an apartment in Bangkok on Friday and charged with overstaying his visa for Thailand. Ogushi allegedly told the police he sought to falsify his own death to claim $5.81 million from an insurance firm.
Ogushi, originally from Saga Prefecture in Japan, reportedly said his foreign exchange and export business were in trouble and that he and a Japanese business partner came up with the plan to deceive an insurance firm.
He allegedly told the police earlier he had paid $15,625 to a Thai man to get him the death documentation and to report his death to Japan’s embassy in Bangkok.
The document was eventually found to be false. His mother came to Thailand after learning about her son’s death and she sent bones, ostensibly those of her son given to her by a Japanese travel agent, to Thai forensic experts for examination.
But the bones were not Ogushi’s, according to the forensic department at the Police General Hospital. More investigation is needed before the Thai police will determine whether or not to charge Ogushi with fabricating an official document.
They are also seeking the Thai man alleged to have obtained the false document for Ogushi. Ogushi is said to have lived in Osaka before arriving in Thailand last November.