TOKYO (TR) – “Tosatsu Hunters” is a label given by law enforcement to fraudsters who swindle perverts interested in taking illicit photographs of women.
On Monday, police announced the arrest of a woman who assisted in the crime by posing seductively to lure victims in Toshima Ward earlier this year, reports the Sankei Shimbun (Aug. 3).
According to police, Rie Miyanishi, 35, dressed in a miniskirt in attracting the attention of one man in his 20s at a shopping mall near JR Ikebukuro Station.
After the man began taking tosatsu, or voyeur, footage of Miyanishi, her male accomplice, Hikaru Omata, 34, accosted him. “That’s my girl you are photographing,” he reportedly said.
Obata then requested an out-of-court settlement. “She won’t go to to the police if you can come up with something in the few-hundred-thousand range,” he said.
The victim eventually paid 1.1 million yen in cash.
Upon her arrest, Miyanishi admitted to the allegations. However, Omata denied the charges, the Ikebukuro Police Station said.
Travelled from Gunma
Miyanishi is the common-law wife of Omata. They live together in Isesaki City, Gunma Prefecture, where Omata works at a second-hand shop.
During questioning, Miyanishi said that she and Omata had been pulling the scam for the past year. Each weekend, they travelled from Gunma to Tokyo’s Ikebukuro and Akihabara areas and targeted victims.
Earlier this year, police arrested another man over a similar crime in Ikebukuro. Other cases have emerged in Harajuku.