OSAKA (TR) – Osaka Prefectural Police have arrested a ring of eight young men and women for allegedly using a dating app to lure a man to a fake bar and extorting nearly 10 million yen from him, reports the Sankei Shimbun (May 21).
The suspects, who range in age from their late teens to their 20s, include Takumi Ogura, a 26-year-old unemployed resident of Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward.
According to investigators, a 24-year-old female member of the group contacted the victim, a man in his 20s, through a matchmaking app last November. She then lured him to a rental room in Osaka City’s Chuo Ward that the group had hastily disguised to operate as an impromptu “bar.”
The victim was initially told that an “all-you-can-drink” course would cost just 5,000 yen. However, the group soon hit him with an exorbitant bill, falsely claiming he had consumed alcohol not covered by the plan.
They further demanded massive cash payouts under the guise of “compensation,” claiming that the billing dispute had forced them to halt their business operations.
Dividing their roles into fake bar staff and lookouts, the group intimidated the victim and forced him to withdraw cash from convenience store ATMs multiple times, ultimately swindling him out of 9.62 million yen. The suspects even followed the victim all the way to his home to relentlessly press for payment.
Police believe the extortion ring is primarily based in Tokyo and had traveled to Osaka shortly before the incident. Authorities have withheld whether the suspects have admitted to the charges as they continue to investigate the full scope of the group’s criminal activities.
