Chapter 508: Bloodshed
Just after the New Year, when the whole of Neon was buzzing about the stock market crash, a vicious incident also occurred in Osaka Prefecture.
On February 18, Toyota Corporation chairman Kazuo Nagano was stabbed to death in his home in public.
Toyota Shoji, from the name it seems to be a trading company under Toyota, but in fact it has nothing to do with Toyota.
This is a trading company whose main business is the value-added system. Its general operating method is to provide customers with proof of value based on the purchase and sale of precious metals.
When the agreed time comes, the customer can obtain the corresponding value-added interest.
To put it more bluntly, Toyota Corporation sells gold to its customers, and the gold sold is kept by Toyota Corporation.
In return, it will offer customers an annual interest rate of 10 to 15%.
This is actually also a kind of private investment, except that the object of investment has become gold.
It sounds like this could be a legitimate way to invest if it is carried out according to normal business procedures.
So how did the vicious incident of Toyota Corporation happen?
The reason is simple: Toyota Corporation is a fraudulent company.
In the current bubble era, because the Ministry of Finance has continuously lowered interest rates in the past two years, bank deposit rates are only around 0.26%.
People get almost no income from depositing their money in banks, and may even have to pay taxes.
So some people took out their money and invested it in the stock market and property market, taking advantage of the surge in both to gain considerable returns.
But for those older people, most of them don’t understand these two types of investments, whether it is the stock market or the property market.
Coupled with their conservative thinking, these elderly people are more willing to believe in traditional investment methods.
Because of their saving habits, the elderly people in Japan actually have a lot of money in their accounts.
Targeting this group, Toyota Trading Company came into being.
They lured the elderly into buying their financial products in the name of investing in gold.
There is no doubt that gold is a relatively valuable asset in any era.
Especially in the 1980s, when neon was experiencing a golden boom, it was highly recognized by the general public.
It can be seen from various gold foil ice creams, sushi, sake, etc. that gold has always been an object of people's pursuit.
Toyota Corporation took advantage of this feature and began to provide personalized services to the elderly through a large number of telephone sales.
In particular, elderly people living alone are the main target of Toyota Corporation.
When making indiscriminate sales calls, if the other party shows interest in their tone, Toyota Trading Company employees will enthusiastically visit them.
As soon as they enter the house, they do nothing else but burn incense in front of the tablet of the elderly.
Then he cleaned the house diligently, and when he was done, he knelt down in front of the old man and said, "Please treat me as your son."
Look, after going through this set of procedures, which elderly person living alone can remain indifferent?
By taking advantage of these human connections, salespeople will gain the unreserved trust of these elderly people living alone within a week.
Under their deception, the old man used all his savings, that is, his pension, to buy the gold provided by Toyota Corporation.
After getting the gold, the salesperson used the excuse that gold was difficult to store and unsafe to keep around, and proposed that their company help keep it.
Of course, all this is not in vain. While keeping the gold, Toyota Trading Company will also provide the elderly with an annual interest rate of 10 to 15%.
Their savings can be exchanged for gold that maintains its value, and they can also earn interest. How could these old people not want to do that?
So, with the careful preparation of the salesperson, the elderly people signed the agreement and obtained a Toyota Securities issued by Toyota Trading Company.
Did you find the problem? Decades of savings, the pension for the rest of your life, were all exchanged for a piece of securities that was as worthless as a piece of waste paper.
So after Toyota Corporation took the money, did it really exchange it for gold and keep it for the elderly?
This is where the problem lies. The so-called gold storage is all a cover-up.
Toyota Corporation took the money and invested it all in the stock market and securities industry.
In just five years, using these deceptive tactics, Toyota Corporation absorbed more than 200 billion yen in funds from tens of thousands of people across the country.
The company has 7,500 employees and more than 60 stores across the country.
In order to create its own identity as a large corporation, Toyota Corporation deliberately misled people into thinking that it had a close connection with Toyota Motors.
For example, if Toyota Motors hires someone to be its spokesperson for advertising, then after a while Toyota Corporation will also hire the same artist to advertise on TV.
When introducing its own company, Toyota Shoji intentionally or unintentionally linked itself to Toyota Motors.
It just so happens that the Toyota Group does have a trading company called Toyota General Trading Company.
Because of this seemingly plausible name, many people mistakenly believe that Toyota Shoji is a company under the Toyota Group.
It was precisely because of this misunderstanding that Toyota Corporation made a huge fortune in just a few years.
But lies are lies after all. Toyota Corporation was recently reported for fraud, and the disguise that lasted for several years was finally exposed.
Because the amount involved is huge, the Osaka Metropolitan Police Department has begun to investigate.
How did Toyota Corporation, which had enjoyed several years of peace and stability, reveal its true colors?
This matter is still related to the recent stock market crash. Most of the funds previously absorbed by Toyota Corporation flowed into stock securities and real estate.
However, as the chairman, Kazuo Nagano is very talented in fraud, but his performance in investment is indeed average.
While the real estate market in Japan was skyrocketing, he actually lost money on his real estate investment.
However, this cannot be entirely blamed on him, because most of the real estate projects invested by Toyota Corporation are related to violent gangs, namely the yakuza.
If you get involved with them, the ending of a company is usually not very good.
However, Kazuo Nagano was not at all surprised by Toyota Corporation's losses in real estate projects, and was even accustomed to it.
Why? Because Toyota Corporation was able to accurately obtain information about elderly people living alone, and some violent gangs played a key role in this.
So all of this from beginning to end has formed a gray industrial chain of interests.
If the loss in real estate was due to profit distribution, then the stock market crash really hit Toyota Corporation in the sore spot.
Hundreds of billions of yen are deposited in the stock market, and based on past momentum, the net profit each month will be enough to pay the interest to those customers.
However, the stock market crash caused Toyota Corporation's assets to shrink by half immediately.
At this point, let alone the interest, even whether the principal can be recovered has become a problem.
It is obvious that Toyota Corporation does not have the ability to handle the monthly interest payments from its customers while busy selling stocks.
Since there is no interest, can I take back the gold that I deposited with you?
Gold? What gold? Toyota Corporation has a lot of gold!
The gold shown to elderly people living alone is even fake gold made by casting!
Toyota Corporation did not have a single penny of gold from the beginning to the end, only the Land and Resources Securities that were as good as waste paper.
So all my life savings are now just a piece of light waste paper?
Those "sons" who used to be so respectful and caring have now turned against me in the blink of an eye.
The elderly living alone, who have been unable to collect their debts and are not paid attention to by society, are helpless in the face of Toyota Corporation's dishonesty.
Without savings, they would not be able to support themselves in the future because they have been single from beginning to end.
So some desperate elderly people chose to jump directly from the apartment building, ending their already fragile lives.
They have no relatives or friends, no neighbors or acquaintances, only their "sons" who have taken care of them so well before.
Now that all of these are gone, there is nothing left in this world to be nostalgic about.
They could have endured darkness if they had never seen the light.
It's a pity that I have seen it, and lost it again, it hurts my heart...
However, some people choose to go to extremes, while others, after discovering that they have been cheated, decisively choose to report the case.
Today, February 18th, is the day when Toyota Corporation's Kazuo Nagano is investigated.
Media reporters who had already received the news in advance gathered in front of an apartment in Kita-ku, Osaka, where Kazuo Nagano lives.
However, although the reporters were eager to go in, they had no choice but to wait outside because there were two civil servants from the investigation department guarding the door.
While everyone was talking, suddenly two tall men pushed aside the reporters and came to the uniformed investigation staff.
"I am a failure in political achievement"
"My name is Atsuro Iida"
"We are employees of Toyota Corporation and have important matters to report to Chairman Nagano."
The two civil servants looked at each other and responded, "Please wait here for a moment."
After saying that, the two of them turned and went into the house to verify.
After they left, the men named Shichino Masaki and Iida Atsuro suddenly turned around and looked at the reporters behind them.
“We are not employees of Toyota Corporation, we are victims of deception.
At the same time, I was also entrusted by other victims to come here today to ask for forgiveness!
Money doesn't matter anymore, we want to kill Nagano."
“Huh?!”
"Huh?"
The reporters and media who were carrying cameras and preparing to watch the show all showed surprised expressions.
However, before everyone could react, the two of them kicked the aluminum alloy window next to Xuanhuan Pass with a "bang" and flipped into the house.
"Hurry, run faster, there's big news!"
Kojima from the Daily News was the first to react. He ran into the apartment with his camera.
Seeing their behavior, other reporters also reacted and rushed forward behind them.
Shitano Masaki and Iida Atsuro turned over and entered the house, and walked into the living room as if they were familiar with the place.
The people from the investigation department here are interrogating Kazuo Nagano and collecting information on stolen goods.
The older Atsuro Iida rushed forward first to stop them, while the young and strong Masahiro Shino went straight to Kazuo Nagano.
When he saw the two people, Kazuo Nagano looked surprised and was about to shout something.
However, Shiye Zhengji acted quickly and covered his mouth with his hand.
With his other hand, he pulled out an old-era standard bayonet from his waist, and then, in front of Nagano Kazuo's horrified eyes, the bayonet flew quickly towards his head.
Puff~
Puff~
…
The blood from the neck shot towards the ceiling like an arrow.
Puff~
Puff~
…
From the neck to the abdomen, no part of Shi Ye's achievements was left out.
There were thirteen cuts in total, and every one of them drew blood.
Only when the person in his arms stopped struggling did Shiye Zhengji let go of his hands and slowly stood up.
"Uh...uh..." Kazuo Nagano, lying on the ground, stared at the ceiling with lifeless eyes, and his body twitched from time to time.
All this happened in a flash, leaving the investigation staff stunned and standing by, at a loss as to what to do.
After doing all this, Shitano Masahiro and Iida Atsuro stood up leisurely and walked towards the door.
There, a large group of reporters and photographers were looking at them silently.