TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Police in western Japan arrested two men who claimed to be Taiwanese for allegedly attempting to defraud an elderly woman out of NT$1.48 million (US$46,000).

The circumstances of the case and the ages of the suspects, 18 and 19, led police to believe they are members of a larger organization, reported UDN. The victim, a resident of Kudamatsu City in Yamaguchi Prefecture, cooperated with police in the arrests.

The 80-year-old woman was reportedly harassed with multiple phone calls starting Dec. 10 and had fallen for similar scams twice in the past. The suspects allegedly impersonated agents representing Japan’s National Public Safety Commission and the Financial Services Agency, claiming the woman’s bank accounts were implicated in a money laundering operation.

The woman was told that to protect her bank accounts from seizure, she should withdraw cash and hand it over to the suspects for safekeeping. On previous occasions, she was swindled out of approximately NT$2 million (US$63,000), per UDN.

After the woman’s family noticed large withdrawals from her accounts, they contacted local police. When the scammers allegedly attempted to defraud her a third time, police instructed her to feign agreement and prepare a package for the suspects to pick up at her residence.

Police have not released the suspects’ names or said whether they have confessed, as they continue to investigate their contacts. Police in Japan are battling a wave of crime in which low-level criminals are contracted for temporary jobs without knowing who is directing the illegal work.