Tokyo, Japan — Tokyo police arrested a 46-year-old former employee of MUFG Bank, Yukari Imamura, on Tuesday, following allegations that she stole gold ingots valued at ¥260 million from customers’ safe deposit boxes. The thefts, which took place last September at the bank’s Nerima branch, have raised significant concerns about the security of safe deposit boxes and the trustworthiness of the bank.
Imamura has confessed to the thefts, which involved approximately 20 kilograms of gold ingots belonging to two clients. The bank’s internal investigation revealed that at least 60 clients may have fallen victim to the thefts, with total losses expected to exceed ¥1 billion.
Imamura reportedly exchanged the stolen gold for cash at several pawn shops and spent the proceeds on gambling and foreign exchange margin trading, according to sources familiar with the investigation. She admitted to having incurred heavy debts from her losses in these activities.
Between April 2020 and October 2024, Imamura was responsible for managing safe deposit boxes at the MUFG Bank’s Nerima and Tamagawa branches. As part of her role, she had access to both the clients’ keys and spare keys kept by the bank for situations where customers lost their own. Imamura used this access to illicitly open the boxes and steal cash and other valuable items.
To avoid detection, Imamura employed several tactics, including pretending there was a power outage when a customer arrived unexpectedly to access their safe deposit box. She was also careful to replace stolen amounts before the customer’s next visit, ensuring they would not notice the theft. If the theft was noticed, she would assure the customer the matter would be investigated, then return the missing items and later contact them with news of their recovery.
Despite regular checks on the management of the keys, the bank failed to conduct comprehensive inspections to verify whether the envelopes containing spare keys had been tampered with. MUFG Bank launched an investigation after a client reported missing items from their safe deposit box in late October 2024.