KOCHI, Japan - A former Japanese professional tennis player who won a French Open mixed doubles title has been arrested on suspicion of defrauding a woman of 300,000 yen ($1,840) through social media.
Rika Hiraki, a 54-year-old company employee from Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, won the 1997 French Open mixed doubles title with Indian player Mahesh Bhupathi. She has denied the allegation, telling investigators she knows nothing about the matter, according to the Kochi prefectural police.
Police suspect Hiraki conspired with unidentified accomplices to swindle money from the woman, a Kagoshima resident then in her 50s, between Feb. 15 and May 30, 2022.
The alleged scam involved a person posing on social media as an orthopedic surgeon working in France with a deceased wife, according to the police.
The woman was allegedly persuaded to cover the cost of a certificate needed for customs to release the deceased wife's belongings that had been shipped to Japan.
The woman transferred 300,000 yen on May 30, 2022, to a bank account in Hiraki's name, police said.
Security camera footage from a bank automated teller machine showed Hiraki withdrawing cash from the account the same day.
Police are also investigating reports from other people who said they suffered similar losses after transferring money to the same account.
