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Woman suspected of baiting men in ¥40 million in dating fraud

TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a 36-year-old woman who is suspected of swindling several men by posing as a prospective partner for romance, reports TV Asahi (June 4).

According to police, Yuka Sasaki worked with 39-year-old Kohei Shibata in claiming they were connected to a fake dating company.

“If you pay a deposit, we will set you up with a woman,” one of the suspects falsely told a man in his 50s living in Kochi City, Kochi Prefecture. “That money will be returned.”

After the man paid 11 million yen, he visited a hotel in Kochi City believing that Sasaki would be there waiting for him.

Yuka Sasaki (Twitter)

“I didn’t know that it was fraud,” Sasaki was quoted by the Motofuji Police Station. Meanwhile, Shibata has declined to comment on the allegations.

Police suspect that Sasaki and Shibata are members of a fraud ring that has used the same ruse to swindle other men in Kyoto and Toyama prefectures. The amount of money collected from the victims totals around 40 million yen, police said.