Japanese police arrested Niroko Hatagami, 51, of Matsudo in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, on Thursday (Picture: Getty)
Authorities have detained a woman accused of making 2,761 false emergency calls over nearly three years.
Japanese police arrested Niroko Hatagami, 51, of Matsudo in Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, on Thursday.
She was arrested on suspicion of obstructing a local fire department’s operations.
Officials alleged she made the calls from her mobile and by other means for at least two years and nine months between August 2020 and May 2023.
She admitted to making calls from both her home and at other locations around her neighbourhood because she felt ‘lonely and wanted someone to listen […] and give me attention’, local press reported.
Over the period in which she made the false emergency claims, she’s thought to have complained to authorities of stomach aches, drug overdoses, aching legs, and other symptoms.
When local services arrived, she would apparently repeatedly refuse medical help, denying having placed any calls.
Her arrest came about after Matsudo Fire Department filed a complaint with the police on June 20.
Niroko admitted to making 2,761 fake calls to emergency services between August 2020 and May 2023 (Picture: Getty Images)
Studies have revealed almost 1.5 million people in Japan may be suffering from acute loneliness, with levels exacerbated by the COVID-19 emergency.
Niroko’s case recalls that of Charlotte Walkinshaw, of Ramsgate, who in August 2022 was jailed for two years after making more than 30 bogus calls to emergency services.
Walkinshaw, who has 76 previous convictions, would routinely pretend to be the victim of a crime or in need of urgent medical attention.
Japanese police made the arrest after local fire services lodged a complaint (Picture: Getty Images)
More: Trending
The defence argued that Walkinshaw had suffered trauma at various points in her life, for which the judge offered ‘great sympathy’.
However, the judge nevertheless told her at sentencing: ‘You’d ring them up, tell them some nonsense and get them to spend time with you.
‘You should know at your age the emergency services are hard pressed, and I dread to think how many tens of thousands of pounds you have cost the public and how many people have been genuinely ill needing the police or fire services having to wait, with potentially catastrophic results.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.
The calls by a 51-year-old woman to Japanese authorities were allegedly made over a period of almost three years.
