Dating app scams in Japan are rampant. Some, however, are more blatant and horrible than others. Reports broke this week that Tokyo police had arrested two men and a woman for using a dating app to defraud disabled people of over half a million bucks.
A 1.9 million yen ($13K) bar tab
Police arrested 24-year-old Sugawara Rina and two men who worked with her. Authorities say that Sugawara and the two used a dating app to lure a man to Bar Queen, a girls’ bar in Shibuya, on what Sugawara said was a date. She didn’t tell the man that she was an employee there.
The two played a game of trumps in which the loser had to drink a shot. By the end of the night, the victim found himself saddled with a 1.9 million yen ($13K) bar tab, which he paid for in cash and with a necklace he was wearing.
The group, say police, repeatedly used a dating app specifically made for disabled people and people who understand their situations to meet and become friends or more. Sugawara reportedly would sometimes pretend to be disabled herself to lure people in.
A victim speaks
One victim, a man with impaired vision, said he lost around 690K yen ($4,728) to the group in a single evening.
The 26-year-old man, who has been sight-impaired since birth and uses a white cane, talked extensively to Asahi Shimbun. He said his meeting with “Lisa” was his first time using a dating app.
Lisa took him to a bar (it’s not clear if it was the same bar) that offered a 5,000 yen ($34) all-you-can-drink option. “Lisa” (Sugawara) feigned shock when he ended up with an oversized bill. The staff told him he had consumed a large quantity of shots of Kleiner and other drinks that weren’t on the all-you-can-drink menu.
The bar employee and Sugawara took him to an ATM to take out the cash. Sugawara said she’d pay him back the next day. After the man tried to leave, the employee flagged him down on the street again and said there was a “miscalculation,” demanding another 142,000 yen ($973).
“The woman apologized to me” before cutting off contact, he told FNN Prime Online. “I thought she was a good woman who knew what it was like to be hard of sight. Now I just think she’s the worst type of person.”
The group has been operating since September 2024. All told, they appear to have stolen 80 million yen, or over half a million dollars, from 54 victims.
Dating app scams are par for the course in Japan
Dating app scams in Japan are common and on the rise. In 2024, such scams took in a total of 39.7 billion yen ($272M).
Dating scams target both men and women. Women are often the target of “romance scams” in which fictitious men ask for large sums of money to “invest in our futures” or to help them out of a jam. Men are frequently targeted in scams like the one described above, in which they’re lured to a real or sham bar and bilked for an expensive evening out.
Sadly, police say that recovering money after a scam is difficult. They urge potential victims instead to refuse to pay such absurd sums. If a bar insists they pay, they should go to the nearest neighborhood police booth (kōban) or dial the 110 emergency line immediately.
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障害者狙い犯行も マッチングアプリ使用し“ぼったくり行為”繰り返したか、バー従業員の男女3人逮捕 警視庁. TBS News Dig
障害者向けマッチングアプリ悪用…“ぼったくり”疑いで菅原梨那容疑者（24）ら逮捕 被害額8000万円に上り“トクリュウ”による犯行か. FNN Prime Online
匿名・流動型犯罪グループ. Wikipedia JP
障害者向けアプリで出会った「りさ」 バーに行くと…ぼったくり被害. Asahi Shimbun
マッチングアプリ悪用ロマンス詐欺急増 記者が登録してみると. NHK News
