{"id":175674,"date":"2026-01-23T11:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T02:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=175674&#038;lang=en"},"modified":"2026-01-23T11:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T02:15:08","slug":"fortune-teller-in-fraud-trial","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/news\/fortune-teller-in-fraud-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Fortune Teller Withholds Plea in Fukuoka Fraud Trial"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first court hearing was held on January 21 for a former fortune teller accused of defrauding a married couple with a false investment scheme, with the defendant declining to enter a plea. According to prosecutors, Noriko Tasei, 51, who is unemployed and has no fixed address, allegedly approached acquaintances in October 2018 with a fabricated plan involving embedding crystals into building foundations for resale profits. She is accused of fraud and related offenses involving approximately \u00a516 million from the couple. Police estimate the total\u00a0 may reach \u00a52 billion across multiple cases. At the Fukuoka District Court, Tasei withheld her position on the charges. In opening statements, prosecutors said the collected funds were used for credit card payments and family travel to Dubai. The defense said it would clarify its position in future proceedings. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Source<\/strong>: <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/kbc.co.jp\/news\/article.php?id=16803587&amp;ymd=2026-01-21\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">KBC News<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> \/ <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/news.tnc.co.jp\/news\/articles\/NID2026012128819\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TNC News<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-175675\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/fnn_fortune-teller-in-fraud-trial_2026_cl.jpg?resize=1386%2C778&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"1386\" height=\"778\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/fnn_fortune-teller-in-fraud-trial_2026_cl.jpg?w=1386&amp;ssl=1 1386w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/fnn_fortune-teller-in-fraud-trial_2026_cl.jpg?resize=300%2C168&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/fnn_fortune-teller-in-fraud-trial_2026_cl.jpg?resize=1024%2C575&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/fnn_fortune-teller-in-fraud-trial_2026_cl.jpg?resize=768%2C431&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Photo: KBC News<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stay informed with the latest Fukuoka &amp; Kyushu news and events in English. Sign up for our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">free weekly newsletter <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">today and never miss a beat. Opt out anytime, your privacy is our priority. Get the inside scoop with <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Now<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Summaries based on public content, errors may occur during translation. Images credited independently. Send feedback using <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/contact\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this <\/span><b>form<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first court hearing was held on January 21 for a former fortune teller accused of defrauding a married couple with a false investment scheme&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30292,"featured_media":175675,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-175674","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-fukuoka-prefecture","news-category-general","en-US"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/175674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}