Following the theft of a large sum of money and valuables from a safe deposit box at a Mitsubishi UFJ Bank branch by a former female employee, the bank’s president, Junichi Hanzawa, held a press conference on the 16th to reveal the bank’s sloppy management of customer assets, including leaving anti-fraud checks to a subsidiary. The bank has received several dozen more reports from customers who say they may have been victims and is currently investigating the allegations. At the beginning of the press conference, President Hanzawa explained the circumstances that led to the former bank employee’s theft. To open a safe deposit box, two keys are needed: a “bank key” kept by the branch and a “customer key” held by the customer. However, the former bank employee used both the bank key and a “spare key” kept at the branch as a spare for the customer key to unlock the safe deposit box and steal money and valuables. The spare keys were to be used when a customer lost their customer key, and were kept in special envelopes and locked in a cabinet at the branch. The envelope had both the bank’s and the customer’s seals stamped on it so that it would be easy to identify once it was opened. The former employee was in charge of safe deposit box operations at the Nerima and Tamagawa branches. He was able to use his ID card to gain access to the safe deposit box and even retrieve the spare key. Although records of entry and security camera footage were left behind, the former employee’s colleagues were apparently unable to notice the fraud. At the press conference, Executive Officer Masahito Mukai said, “We are very familiar with the procedures for safe deposit boxes, but there were some areas where we circumvented the system.” In addition, the storage status of spare keys was to be checked by a subsidiary once every six months, but the checks were limited to whether the number of keys was correct and whether there were any abnormalities in the storage conditions. The former employee reportedly told the bank’s investigation, “I am extremely sorry.” There have been a series of harsh criticisms about misconduct by bank employees who hold customer assets in custody. A 58-year-old male company employee from Tokyo’s Shinagawa Ward who uses a safe deposit box at another bank said, “The person depositing the money never thought that the contents would even be seen, and never imagined that a bank employee would steal it. This should not have happened,” he said angrily. A 42-year-old male company employee from Takatsu Ward, Kawasaki City, said, “These days, there are robbers even at home, and even when I deposit money in the bank, there are thefts… What should I do about this?” he said, looking confused. Keiji Kawamata (46), a financial planner who has worked at a major bank, said, “Banks have taken measures to prevent employees from committing fraud, such as not putting the same person in the same position for a long period of time, but these measures have become a mere formality. “It is necessary for users to take measures such as regularly checking the contents of their safes and keeping chronological records.” Yomiuri Shimbun 2024/12/16 21:54 ★12024/12/17 (Tue) 00:23:06.00 ※Previous thread.
The criminal has yet to be named or arrested. How much of a high-ranking citizen must he be? The amount would be enough for him to receive immediate prison time, but the bank is protecting the criminal, so socially he will have no criminal record and will be acquitted.
If I put in gold bars with objective evidence and was compensated at market value, would the actual profit I made be considered miscellaneous income and taxed? Or would it be exempt from tax in the first place because it was compensation?
The safe deposit box business is a service for big-time customers that is run without any regard for profit, so if banks stopped offering safe deposit boxes they would make a profit.
According to the bank, the former employee stole cash, gold, jewelry, and other items from safe deposit boxes at two branches in Nerima and Tamagawa between April 2020 and October 2024. According to the bank’s rules, safe deposit boxes cannot be opened without a customer’s permission, and opening must be done by multiple people and with the permission of a manager. However, the former bank employee was the person in charge of managing the branch’s safe deposit boxes, and used his position to open safe deposit boxes without customers’ permission. It’s just a pretense. No matter how many rules you make, they’re meaningless. Banks are liars, so you can’t just take their testimony at face value. In the first place, the people in charge of managing the accounts have master keys.
>>38 There are no rules regarding multiple people or anything like that. The keys should be managed by multiple people and there should be hardware restrictions in place so that the lock can only be opened if two or more people use their keys at the same time.
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