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The Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested two teenage boys, aged 17, on charges of forging and using personal documents after they were caught staying at luxury hotels using the credit card of a friend’s mother, it has been revealed.
According to police, one of the boys, a resident of Hyogo Prefecture, left his home in February and travelled to Hiroshima to meet the other boy. The two stayed at a friend’s house for several days, during which time they memorized the credit card details of their friend’s mother, Sankei Shimbun reported.
After the two left the friend’s house, between late March and early April, they stayed at four high-end hotels in Tokyo and Nagoya, using the mother’s credit card details and address when making reservations. The bills for one of the hotels was approximately 160,000 yen, including accommodation, food and room service, police said.
Upon checkout, the two did not pay the bills, as they did not know the PIN, and fled from the hotels, police said, leaving only the mother’s information and contact details.
The boy from Hyogo was quoted by police as saying that “it’s someone’s money anyways, so why not stay at a luxury hotel.” The boy from Hiroshima told police that the other boy, whom he believed was the head of a company, asked him to go on a “business trip” together, denying intentional involvement in the case.
This is the second arrest for the boy from Hyogo, police said. Earlier this year, he was arrested on charges of theft for selling another person’s computer without permission.
© Japan Today
15 Comments
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nakanoguy01
YOLO! hope they enjoyed the food at the luxury hotel, because it'll be a while before they enjoy real food again.
tamanegi
Slow news day?
Dan Lewis
They will get a slap on the wrist and some stories. The friend's mother will not have to pay - the public will.
Wakarimasen
sounds like a good scam. not sure why they would have to "memorize" the card details. surely they could write them down? also if they didn't have the card what is the relevance of the pin number?
Harry_Gatto
I assume that they made the reservation by telephone quoting the card number and expiry date. When checkout time came they didn't have the card to present, which would also need the PIN, so they legged it. They really are not very bright it seems.
Sherman
Assume = Ass out of U and Me.
I think they used Booking.Com or similar and the card number given online to confirm the booking. On check out they were stuffed.
Cosmos1
if you can check in without a PIN , Why check out
gogogo
Young yakuza
theFu
The hotel will likely eat these costs AND may even change their check-in procedures, though that is doubtful.
If the hotel was full, they lost a little money. Otherwise, 1 yr and everything 2 hungry teens can eat really isn't that much real cost to a hotel - forget what we are charged, think real costs for the items and services.
MarkX
One boy thought the other was a company president and he invited him on a business trip? That has to be the lamest excuse I have ever heard.
Goodlucktoyou
17 years old can't be imprisoned. they are still children. hotels need to see some kind of id, especially for two 17 boys. did they order alcohol? usually you just fill out your name, address, phone number and email so you can get a lot of junk mail.
pacint
Was wondering if they did book online what happened to the confirmation, etc e-mails did they have access to that account too?
Many details missing.
shogun36
Sounds cute. Must have been a romantic overnight stay for them, watching Johnny's entertainment on TV all night.
Andy
Must be the 2 dumbest kids in Asia or average for Japanese standards. Were they expecting to not have any paths leading back to them when using anyone's card in a situation where you'd have direct, face to face contact with staff/employees? Even if they made online reservations and were never asked for the actual card - which happens often around the world - still you'd need photo ID most of the time.
Being dumb as they are, maybe they had no fear or care as to when the card might come back as stolen or the account frozen or simple over the credit limit and declined. You could find that out online simply enough because the charge will go thru or won't (sometimes it could be declined later, in leu of a confirmation email).