crime

Man cons woman out of ¥6.35 mil in romance fraud

31 Comments

Saitama prefectural police have arrested a 34-year-old man on suspicion of fraud after he conned a woman, whom he met via an online dating site, into giving him 6.35 million yen.

According to police, the suspect, Wataru Takeuchi, has a wife and children and lives in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture. He works at Oriental Land Co, owner and operator of of Tokyo DisneyResort.

Police said that on Nov 13 last year, Takeuchi started dating the woman who is in her 40s after contacting her on a site for people looking for serious relationships that lead to marriage, Fuji TV reported. He told her he worked for an auto sales company. After getting to know the woman, he told her that it was his dream to attend a training school for pilots, but he did not have enough money, and that his company was about to go bankrupt. He convinced the woman to give him ¥6,350,000.

After getting the money, Takeuchi cut off contact with the woman and she reported the matter to police in Tokorozawa City.

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31 Comments
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Cutting off contact. Not very smart at all.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

A fool and her money are soon parted

6 ( +12 / -6 )

I'm sure he's filling in the application form to pilot school even as we speak.

14 ( +14 / -0 )

Love is blind. Sigh.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

I was once conned out of 15,000 yen in movie tickets, expensive meals and drinks. How do I file for romance fraud?

18 ( +20 / -2 )

..Nov 13 last year, Takeuchi started DATING the woman...

How is this considered fraud when women use men for free meals, money, and gifts all the time. Once they get what they want, they cut off all contact or become distant. Do men expect any compensation or help from the police?

5 ( +10 / -5 )

This lady must have been quite naive and desperate for live to give up so much cash to a man she barely knew.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Could be a grey zone

But he did not intend to go into a deep relationship, lied about his personal life, job and intention to get money, therefore he will be punished

Can not believe he is married. Was his wife aware of ?

Anyway, I always do not understand why people give so much money. Did he promise to marry her or something like that.

Some people can get scammed very easily

5 ( +5 / -0 )

If the guy applies for pilot school is it still fraud?

3 ( +9 / -6 )

People are quick to judge this lady but all I'll say is depression and loneliness can make people do dumb things.

How is this considered fraud when women use men for free meals, money, and gifts all the time. Once they get what they want, they cut off all contact or become distant. Do men expect any compensation or help from the police?

Found the incel.

-3 ( +6 / -9 )

I feel she was just trying to please him in hopes of getting married. Hope she can recover her money.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Both are idiotic in my opinion

4 ( +5 / -1 )

For those who are asking, it IS an illegal and actionable offense. It's called fraud. Yes, she's naive, but blaming her is little different than blaming a rape victim.

4 ( +7 / -3 )

smart dude

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

I guess it could be fraud because he is married. He could say he was thinking about divorcing but... due diligence is what is needed. Even when it comes to these supposedly reputable sites, there are still lots of scammers out there.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

That's a decent amount of money. do we know what her job was?

0 ( +1 / -1 )

how comes this woman has so much money to give out so easily?

Oriental Land Co, owner and operator of of Tokyo DisneyResort...if his company is so big then why does he need that money, is he really in such a dire situation to go through all that trouble?
-3 ( +1 / -4 )

how comes this woman has so much money to give out so easily?Oriental Land Co, owner and operator of of Tokyo DisneyResort...if his company is so big then why does he need that money, is he really in such a dire situation to go through all that trouble?

It's definitely NOT his company. It's where he is employed and it does not say what he does. And there is no mention of "how easy" it was for her or not.

That's a decent amount of money. do we know what her job was?

She is in her 40's, single, probably been saving for years, like the typical Japanese worker does, she felt some love from the guy and the rest is history.

But is it really a crime? He said, she said...kind of hard to take to court.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

How is this considered fraud when women use men for free meals, money, and gifts all the time.

They only use gullible, insecure, needy, desperate etc blokes. Most women I know work and are more than happy to split expenses or even support their partner financially if need be.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Wonder if his wife divorced him for dating or went shopping?

3 ( +4 / -1 )

They only use gullible, insecure, needy, desperate etc blokes. Most women I know work and are more than happy to split expenses or even support their partner financially if need be.

Well said :) When you are with decent woman, you don't feel ripped.

It's all give and take/receive!!

2 ( +4 / -2 )

I am not a lawyer, and I don't play one on TV. But my professional estimation is laws were broken - just as cons who cook up some investment scam can be arrested for conning old ladies, or for men pretending to be a grandson conning old ladies, or for men (fill in the blank) conning old ladies, this "old" lady was conned.

My image of Japanese people being saints and being omotenashi has been destroyed yet again.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

My image of Japanese people being saints and being omotenashi has been destroyed yet again

Simply, there are good people and bad people in any country.

Japan isn't worse than other countries, but Japan isn't better, either. Cannot generalize, people are people.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Cannot generalize, people are people.

Actually you can generalize. It's an indication of the general trends amongst that which you you are generalizing.

The problem comes when people try to take a generalization about to a group, and apply it to an individual. You end up with logic failures as this:

My image of Japanese people being saints and being omotenashi has been destroyed yet again

People who are not very good with logic let the actions of an individual paint their image of the group, and set their expectations on an individual according to their expectations of the group. Both of these are illogical.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

Strangerland, I was kidding. No group of people are perfect, except for the French and Italians, at least culturally and gastronomically.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Similar thing happened to a close friend of mine a few years back.

Don't e to hard on the victim here, this kind of con-man is extremely intelligent in some ways.

It could have been worse for my friend but I got suspicious. There are usually warning signals so my advice is : if it does'nt feel right, don't do it. (Don't hand out money).

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Theft by deception, and yes it is a crime in any country.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

even if it is not a crime the police is taking the cautious measure

of avoiding a revenge crime, apparently.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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