A woman was arrested after making 2,761 fake emergency calls: 'I was lonely'

• Police in Japan say a 51-year-old woman made 2,761 fake emergency calls, The Mainichi reported.
• She was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of obstructing the operations of a local fire department.

A 51-year-old woman who was arrested after police say she made 2,761 fake emergency calls told investigators she did it because she was lonely and wanted attention, according to Japan's The Mainichi newspaper.

Hiroko Hatagami, an unemployed resident of the city of Matsudo in Japan's Chiba prefecture, was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of obstructing the operations of a local fire department, The Mainichi reported.

Chiba Prefectural Police accused Hatagami of repeatedly making emergency calls by cellphone and other means, both from her home and other locations in her neighborhood, the newspaper said.

The Mainichi reported that some of Hatagami's calls revolved around fabricated health issues, including claims of severe stomach aches, fake overdoses, and leg pain.

Between August 2020 and May 2023, she repeatedly asked the Matsudo Fire Department to dispatch ambulances, only to then refuse medical attention upon their arrival, or deny making the calls altogether, The Mainichi reported.

Both the fire department and police station had warned Hatagami to stop making the nuisance calls, but she continued to do so, per The Mainichi.

The emergency services department eventually filed a damage report with the police on June 20, which later led to her arrest, according to the newspaper.

The Mainichi said that Hatagami has admitted to the allegations, telling investigators that she did so because she wanted company.

"I was lonely and wanted someone to listen to me and give me attention," she reportedly said.

This isn't the first time a woman has been arrested in Japan for making thousands of nuisance calls to emergency departments.

In 2013, Japanese police arrested another woman for calling them more than 15,000 times over a six-month period.

She made as many as 927 emergency calls in just one day, with police saying they visited her home about 60 times before eventually arresting her, according to The Straits Times.