TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a group of six persons connected to a bar in Shibuya Ward who are suspected of misusing dating apps for people with disabilities for fraud-related purposes, reports NHK (June 19).

Earlier this year, Shunta Suzuki, 22, Hiroto Kasai, 24, and Hirori Kumagai, 23, are suspected of luring two men in their 20s that they had met on a dating app to their establishment in Dogenzaka, charging them high fees and making them pay more than 6.2 million yen under false pretenses.

Upon their arrests on suspicion of fraud and violating a Tokyo Metropolitan Government anti-rip-off ordinance, all but one of the six suspects admitted to the allegations, police said. “I will consult with his lawyer,” the sixth suspect said.

# Held him captive in a sauna

In one case in March, a disabled man met a person claiming to be “Risa” on an app for people with disabilities. After visiting the bar, Suzuki and his accomplices took the man to an ATM to make him pay 220,000 yen for the meal and drinks.

They also claimed that “another customer’s reservation was canceled.” As a result, they confiscated his mobile telephone and held him captive in a sauna until the next morning. They also forced him to borrow money from a consumer finance company. They later defrauded him of 2 million yen in cash and forced him to buy six necklaces with his credit card (worth approximately 2.42 million yen) to cover reservation cancellation fees.

In the second case the following month, they also lured another man in his 20s to the bar and made him pay 90,000 yen for meals using the same method. They also defrauded him out of 1.5 million yen.

# Target men who “have little experience dating women”

Police said that the group had a manual that gave the instruction to target men who “have little experience dating women and won’t get angry.”

Data for 57 people, including driver’s licenses, was found on the suspects’ smartphones. Police are continuing the investigation, believing that multiple accounts on apps were created using other people’s data.

Suzuki had already been arrested in a previous case of misusing dating apps for people with disabilities in a rip-off scheme.

Shibuya group targeted users of dating apps for disabled for fraud