Dating app scammers in Japan targeting disabled people with fake dates and huge bar bills

In one case a visually impaired man was bilked out of almost US$5,000, with police warning many more have been similarly hit

Police in Japan are ramping up efforts to dismantle a loose network of romance scammers who use dating apps to target disabled people, luring victims to fraudulent bars and saddling them with exorbitant bills through deceptive drinking games and false claims.

The latest case – involving a visually impaired man who was swindled out of about 700,000 yen (US$4,870) – has cast a spotlight on how such “anonymous and fluid” crime groups operate with impunity by cycling in new perpetrators for each incident, according to Tokyo police.

The man had met a woman on a dating app designed for people with disabilities. She introduced herself as “Risa” and offered to take him to a bar in Tokyo’s bustling Shibuya district in February.

What he did not know, investigators later said, was that the woman – identified by police as Rina Sugawara – was employed by the bar and working in concert with its staff.

The bar offered an all-you-can-drink plan for 5,000 yen, but during their visit, Sugawara reportedly encouraged him to order additional drinks and engage in a drinking game that involved taking shots as a penalty. The victim, who rarely consumed alcohol, soon became intoxicated.

A bar worker later told them the bill had climbed to 400,000 yen as the spirits they ordered were not part of the all-you-can-drink option.

Sugawara expressed shock over the hefty tab and offered her credit card, which the employee said was unusable. The three went to an ATM, where Sugawara claimed she could not withdraw cash after 9pm, forcing the man to do so. When they returned, the bar worker said the bill had been miscalculated and was in fact around 700,000 yen.

“It’s not like they threatened me, but I was not used to alcohol, and I was not calm as I was drunk,” the Mainichi newspaper quoted the victim as saying.

“She took advantage of my feelings of wanting to date someone,” he said.

The man added that she apologised to him for “causing trouble” before cutting off contact and deleting her app account.

“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,” he told Fuji News Network’s Prime service.

Tokyo police arrested three people in connection with the case last week, including Sugawara. They believe the suspects are part of a rotating syndicate in which members switch roles – including as lure, handler or enforcer – depending on the operation.

The group is suspected of extracting about 80 million yen from 54 victims since September.

Police said such syndicates often use first-time or lower-level participants as “single-use” actors, discarding them after each job to avoid detection.

Authorities last year arrested more than 4,000 people across Japan as part of a broader anti-crime initiative targeting similar rackets.

In some cases, according to Tokyo police, victims with disabilities had their belongings stolen at saunas they were taken to after meeting fraudsters online. Others reported having strangers turn up at their homes demanding payment.

The incident highlights the growing reach of love scams in Japan, a country grappling with a rapidly ageing population and social isolation.

According to the National Police Agency, the number of romance-related fraud cases surged to 3,784 last year – up more than 2,200 from 2023. The agency has urged banks to implement monitoring systems to help detect suspicious transfers.

Earlier this month, police commended a bank employee in Gunma prefecture for stopping an elderly man from falling prey to a romance scam after he tried to transfer 100,000 yen to a woman he met on a dating platform.

Married users pretending to be single have also plagued the country’s online courtship scene, prompting a Japanese dating app to introduce a feature allowing it to verify clients’ marital status through government records.

Last year, a government survey found that a quarter of married people aged 40 or under had met their partner through online dating in Japan.