KAGAWA (TR) – A 44-year-old woman here has been charged with bankruptcy fraud after allegedly posing as a single mother and veterinarian on a dating site to defraud multiple middle-aged men out of tens of millions of yen, reports Shukan Post (June 26 – July 3).
Azusa Taniguchi, a resident of Zentsuji City, appeared in the Takamatsu District Court on April 20 for her first hearing regarding violations of the Bankruptcy Act.
According to the prosecution, Taniguchi attempted to declare personal bankruptcy to avoid paying damages to a victim she scammed. However, she allegedly concealed approximately 15 million yen in hidden bank accounts and lied to a court-appointed trustee to ensure a steady flow of cash from other men she was still deceiving.
The criminal trial exposes a web of deceit that spanned nearly a decade.
Divorced single mother
Taniguchi’s fraudulent activities first came to light after a victim — a man in his late 50s from the Chugoku region — filed a civil lawsuit against her.
The man testified that he met Taniguchi on a matchmaking site in the fall of 2013, shortly after he had divorced his previous wife. Taniguchi’s profile falsely claimed she was a divorced single mother.
During their courtship, Taniguchi told the man she was a veterinarian who graduated from Osaka Prefecture University, though she added she had previously worked at a soapland bathhouse. Believing her to be a strong, independent woman raising a child alone, the man proposed in March 2014.
Shortly after, Taniguchi began draining him financially. In April 2014, she sent him an ultrasound photo, claiming she was pregnant with his child, and pleaded for cash. Months later, she abruptly called him to say she was getting an abortion, refused to name the hospital, and hung up.
Guise of living expenses
Over the course of their relationship, she extracted roughly 4.57 million yen from him under the guise of living expenses and housing loans. She constantly dodged his requests to meet her parents or formalize their marriage.
In February 2020, after years of unfulfilled promises, the man consulted a lawyer. The ensuing investigation revealed a stunning reality: Taniguchi was not a single mother, but a married woman.
While her legal husband lived away on business, Taniguchi was residing in a house built by her husband alongside her 14-year-old son and another man—a freeloader entirely supported by the funds she scammed from dating site users.
“I can’t believe she kept the lie going for so long”
Realizing he had been duped, the victim filed a civil suit in 2021. On November 22, 2023, a court ordered Taniguchi to pay 4 million yen in damages, formally recognizing her actions as a marriage scam born of “selfish desires.”
“I can’t believe she kept the lie going for so long,” the victim told reporters.
Rather than pay the court-ordered restitution, Taniguchi initiated bankruptcy proceedings. However, her greed proved to be her undoing. By setting up secret accounts to continue receiving funds from her other unsuspecting victims, she caught the attention of the bankruptcy trustee, leading directly to the current criminal charges.
