Bisdak Babbles

Some of you might have heard of the “ore ore sagi” here in Japan.  Just an overview, I took this from the article written by Rev. Ai Hironaka:

“In Japan, males refer to themselves as boku or ore, so ore ore sagi is fraud committed by males pretending to be sons or grandsons in need of money. Victims, mostly mothers or grandmothers, receive a frantic phone call from someone who says, “Ore ore!! Ore dayo!! (Mom, it’s me!)” Because the caller is talking and crying at the same time, it is difficult for the distraught mother to truly recognize the voice of her son or grandson. Instead, the frantic mother responds, “Is that you, Ai?” (using her son or grandson’s name). The caller responds, “Yes, it’s me, Ai” and assumes the identity of Ai. Then the caller says, “A debt collector is after me for money I don’t have. If I do not pay now, something terrible will happen to me. Can you put money in an account for me?” And he gives a bank account number.”

This afternoon, I’m pretty sure I fell victim to another type of scam. Let’s just call it the “saifu wa uchita” (I dropped my wallet) scam.  I was in a hurry to my next lesson when an old guy, probably in his 70’s asked me something.  I thought that he was just lost in the confusing underground structure of Osaka.  He was wearing a suit and carried an attache case, an image of the usual “salaried man”.  I told him that I didn’t understand what he said but he rambled on.  He spoke so fast but I was able to pick up some words.

Old guy:  densha … saifu … uchita (train, wallet, fell).
Me: [So, he dropped his wallet on the train. But why ask a foreigner like me instead of going to the lost and found section? I am sure that I’m being tricked.]
Old guy: kaererarenai… okane … kashite … okurimasu yo (can’t go home…money… lend…send)
Me: [Tadaaan! He finally said the “trick” words] Ikura gurai? (How much?)
Old guy: Mie-ken… 3,640 yen. (Mie prefecture … 3,640 yen)

I almost laughed out loud when I heard those words. If my Japanese were any better, I would have told him upfront that the best people to help him were the police. But I was running late so I just told him that I don’t have that amount and I could only give him 500 yen. After giving the 500-yen coin to him, he still asked me if I don’t have any more money! Honestly, I only had 1,500 yen with me.

I was held up for about 5 minutes already so I just said no and continued running. I was in a bad mood after the incident because I knew that I was being tricked but I still gave the old guy something. It was because a little voice in me kept asking… “what if the guy is really telling the truth?”.  At least I gave him something that’s more than enough to use the payphone and contact someone from his home.