TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 35-year-old bar for accepting money from a female customer while knowing that it had been obtained through fraud, reports Nippon News Network (Mar. 1).
In a video from Instagram shown by the network, a man takes a selfie with a champagne bottle in hand loud music plays in the background.
The man is 35-year-old host Yasumune Kanai.
Two years ago, Kanai allegedly accepted approximately 1.5 million yen in cash from a female customer, aged in her 20s, while knowing that it was money that she had swindled out of a man in a case of fraud.
In response to questioning, Kanai said, “I’ll talk after my lawyer arrives.”
Kanai worked under the name “Reino Ibuki” at the host club Top Dandy Tokyo in the Kabukicho red-light district. He wrote on his social media that he has “made over 100 million yen in sales for two consecutive years.”
The incident came to light when the female customer was arrested and indicted. She had carried out a so-called “romance scam” using a matching app.
She wrote to a man in his 30s who lived in Aichi Prefecture, “My salary was stolen from me at work. I don’t have money for daycare.”
It is believed that she made the victim transfer a total of about 20 million yen on 17 occasions. Kanai is believed to have collected some of that money from the woman to cover debts at the club.
The woman is believed to have visited the club more than 60 times over a period of about 10 months, paying about 12 million yen.
“I got hooked on Kanai around March of last year. I used him to increase my popularity,” the woman said.
The existence of Kanai emerged during questioning of the woman. But Kanai thought he had covered his tracks.
“I don’t leave a history like the host who was arrested in the case of Itadaki Joshi Riri-chan,” he boasted to those around him.
However, Line messages between the two told another story, according to police.
“If [the Aichi victim] doesn’t collapse, I’ll get 1.5 million on the 10th,” she wrote to him.
As well, she told police that Kanai was aware the money came as a result of fraud.
