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Osaka cops bust Hostess club in credit card scam

The manager of a hostess club is suspected of swindling customers by claiming its credit card swipe machine is in 'bad condition'
The manager of a hostess club is suspected of swindling customers by claiming its credit card swipe machine is in ‘bad condition’ (plus-gifu.jimdo.com)

OSAKA (TR) – Osaka Prefectural Police have busted a hostess club in Kita Ward that is suspected of defrauding customers by pretending its credit card machine was not functioning, reports the Sankei Shimbun (July 7).

On November 23 of last year, Ryota Ito, the manager of Club Gem, located in the Doyama area, allegedly defrauded a male customer in his 50s out of 200,000 yen in cash after it was falsely claimed that his credit card was not accepted due to the “bad condition” of the swipe machine.

Ito, who has been charged with fraud, admits to the allegations.

On the day of the alleged crime, the total bill was 300,000 yen. The victim had opted to pay 100,000 yen of by cash and the remainder via credit card.

After falsely saying that the credit card payment was not processed, the suspect requested cash payment for the same amount.

Police are aware of five other similar incidents that have taken place at Club Gem in which the accumulated damage was approximately 700,000 yen.