Last month, Tokyo Reporter revealed that a former employee of Toyota Coniq Pro was accused of conspiring with an IT specialist working for Yonageya to conduct a fraud of roughly 160 million yen ($1.07 million). At least one of the two men had allegedly spent the defrauded money on entertainment activities, gambling included.
Now, the same online newspaper from Tokyo reports on a similar story of a 27-year-old female swindler who targeted close to 100 men and robbed them of around 100 million yen ($656,000) through a “romance scam” that she conducted on social media.
The suspect, identified as Shizuku Ida, used a 28-year-old female accomplice to defraud a man in Yamagata Prefecture of 346,000 yen ($2,270) in cash after connecting with him on a dating app in October last year.
The Suspect “Used the Money at Internet Casinos”
Following her arrest on suspicion of fraud and theft, Ida stated she spent the swindled money on entertainment, according to reports from Nippon News Network.
“I lied to make the other person trust me,” the suspect admitted to police, further explaining that she used the money “at internet casinos and to play with hosts.”
In total, police believe Ida targeted around 90 men and defrauded them of around 103 million yen ($675,000), using at least four apps to find victims.
She then used other chat apps, like KakaoTalk and Line, to communicate and deceive them.
Posing as a Hostess Online
The unemployed swindler pretended to be a hostess at a kyabakura (a Japanese hostess club originating in the 1970s where male customers are served by female hostesses), going under the name “Yuu” on social media.
To one victim, she claimed she wanted “to die,” telling him a fake story about her working as a hostess and keeping her earned money in her locker, from where it was stolen.
To create a truly sob story, she told her victim that she had put her child in a “childcare center affiliated with the club” and that she had to “pay the manager for it.”
This, like her narrative about paying off her parents’ debts, was untrue. “I really can’t do this anymore…There’s no hope. I’m screwed, I want to die,” the con artist continued in her attempt to persuade her victim. She eventually did, as the 33-year-old man believed it all to be true, and transferred her money on two different occasions.
“The Woman Was in a Very Difficult Situation”
The man believed he’d be repaid: “The woman was in a very difficult situation, and I thought the money I lent her would definitely come back.”
A relative revealed that Ida had in fact left her child with her parents and cut off all contact with them. “It’s a shame… she did something bad…I’m sorry,” they said.
The man based in the Yamagata Prefecture only spoke to Ida on the phone and via social media. Not meeting a scammer in person can lead victims to idealize them, increasing vulnerability, explains social media fraud expert Akiko Takahashi.
Takahashi, who is a visiting Professor at Seikei University, noted, “If you meet in person, for example, you can see from their words and actions that they don’t really like you, and you’ll be more likely to see the truth.”
Money Scams Via Dating Apps and Sites Have Skyrocketed
Consultations with police about financial scams via dating apps and sites have surged in the last five years.
According to official data from the National Consumer Affairs Center which provides information and conducts “research and study concerning consumer affairs from a comprehensive perspective” to create stable and improved lifestyles, the number of cases rose from only 45 in 2018 to a whopping 10,107 in 2023.
Moreover, in October, the National Police Agency said incidents tied to investment fraud and romance scams via social media have more than tripled in the first eight months of 2024 this year.
A total of 6,868 cases involving losses of nearly 88 billion yen ($600 million) were reported to police during this period, a sharp increase from 2,008 cases and 21.1 billion yen in losses during the same period in 2023.