TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested two female bar employees in their 40s for allegedly stealing more than 100,000 yen from an intoxicated man in Taito Ward earlier this year, reports the Mainichi Shimbun (July 9).
At around 1:35 a.m. on January 17, Kotomi Ushiyama, 43, and Chinese national Wu Meimei, 49, are suspected of using the intoxicated man’s cash card to withdraw 130,000 yen from an ATM at a bank.
Upon their arrests on suspicion of theft, Ushiyama and Wu denied the allegations, the Ueno Police Station said.
According to police, the victim was approached by a tout in Ueno at around 11:30 p.m. on January 16 and taken to a nearby bar, after which he has no memory of anything happening. It is believed he was forced to drink large amounts of strong alcohol.
Ushiyama and her accomplice are believed to have taken the man to the ATM and asked him for his PIN number to withdraw the cash. Security camera footage near the ATM captured the two suspects withdrawing cash with a man, believed to be the victim, who was unable to stand on his own. The man’s credit card also contained 400,000 yen worth of charges he had no memory of.
Police believe the pair repeatedly got customers drunk with strong alcohol to withdraw cash from them. In 2024, the Ueno Police Station received 20 reports from people in its jurisdiction who claimed to have lost their memory at establishments where they had been taken by touts. They later found that they had paid between 100,000 and 200,000 yen for food and drink using their credit cards.
