TOKYO (TR) – Four years after the notorious Luffy crime syndicate orchestrated a massive string of robberies and special fraud cases across Japan, chilling details have emerged about the nearly 20 women who operated the group’s “honey-trap” operations and served as cash mules and spies.
At least, that is according to Shimei Kurita, whose new book “Luffy in a Cage: The People Who Created ‘Dark Part-Time Jobs” chronicles the ring. The author provides commentary on the notorious syndicate to weekly tabloid Shukan Post (July 17-24).
Tomonobu Kojima, 45, a top executive of the syndicate, recently spoke from the Tokyo Detention House, explaining that women were highly valued assets in the underworld,
“Women are more suited for fraud,” Kojima said. “The targets for these scam calls are mostly elderly men, and they easily drop their guard when dealing with a young woman. In our group, there were almost no female callers who brought in less than 10 million yen a month.”
The women in the syndicate came from diverse backgrounds, including art students, daughters of prominent families, and former sex workers. Many were lured into the Philippines-based “dark part-time jobs” (yami baito) to pay off debts. In one case, a woman unable to pay her host club tab was sold to the syndicate for a mere 500,000 yen.
Syndicate mastermind Yuki Watanabe, 38, capitalized on this. Known for keeping multiple mistresses in the Philippines, Watanabe even attempted to launch a “Harem Plan” to recruit exclusively female callers. Executives pampered the female members, and nearly all the women in the syndicate found boyfriends among the lower-ranking male members.
Terashima and Kumai
Among the group’s female ranks, two gained particular notoriety for their looks.
Haruna Terashima, 27, a high school dropout from a family of educators, was dubbed “Nami” by netizens — a reference to the popular anime One Piece. Assigned to a team known as the “ST Box,” she was treated like a princess and raked in massive profits.
Hitomi Kumai, 25, the granddaughter of a politician and a former beauty pageant contestant at Tama Art University, was another top earner.
Kumai successfully pulled off massive scams—sometimes clearing 50 million yen on a single target. Capitalizing on her beauty, she became romantically involved with a 24-year-old team leader, became pregnant in the Philippines, and gave birth inside a Japanese detention center following her deportation.
For others, devotion to the syndicate’s bosses bordered on fanaticism.
Chiaki Shibata, 29, one of Watanabe’s mistresses, was arrested in 2019 after smuggling roughly 300 million yen in stolen cash to the Philippines inside suitcases over seven trips, taking on the dangerous job out of romantic feelings for the boss.
Yamada
Self-described “legendary” kakeko (caller) Risa Yamada, 26, defrauded victims of around 600 million yen. A former sex worker, Yamada was so deeply infatuated with the executives’ praise that she acted as a syndicate spy.
Under orders, Yamada infiltrated the rival Philippines-based Japanese crime group JP Dragon, slept with one of their executives, and extracted sensitive information via pillow talk to feed back to Watanabe.
“It was like a fraud group reality dating show,” Yamada said of the rampant sexual relationships within the syndicate. She proudly boasted that she slept with more men in the group than beauties like Kumai and Terashima.
However, Kojima offered a slightly different take on her popularity, coldly revealing, “Yamada was the only one who couldn’t get a boyfriend.”
Yamada is currently serving a 4-year-and-2-month prison sentence for theft and fraud. Despite the millions stolen and the lives ruined, Yamada — along with the vast majority of the other female scammers who shook the nation — is expected to finish her sentence and be released back into society by next year.
