Japanese ‘sugar baby’ accused of scamming man out of $180K on dating app
By Bryan Ke
September 21, 2023
A 25-year-old Japanese sugar baby was recently slapped with an arrest warrant after authorities accused her of scamming a man out of millions of Japanese yen on a dating app.
Key details: Mai Watanabe, who also goes by her online handle “Itadaki-joshi Riri-chan” (Sugar Baby Riri-chan), swindled 27 million yen (approximately $182,500) from the 50-year-old man, who is reportedly from Japan’s Ibaraki prefecture. She told him that she had “borrowed money from an acquaintance to open an apparel business, and if I don’t pay it back I’ll have to sell my body at a brothel” and other false statements, according to The Mainichi.
More alleged victims: The recent victim is just one of the few Watanabe has allegedly conned. The content creator, who reportedly has no fixed address or occupation, has purportedly scammed an undisclosed number of men out of over 160 million yen (approximately $1.08 million). The victims’ money was allegedly transferred to Watanabe’s bank account.
Past charges: The recent arrest warrant came weeks after Watanabe was indicted for aiding and abetting fraud. She was discovered to have sold guidebooks priced between 10,000 and 20,000 yen (approximately $68 and $135) to women on how to con men into giving them money through paid dating schemes under the guise of being their sugar babies.
A 20-year-old woman from Nagoya who purportedly purchased a guidebook from Watanabe was arrested in June 2022 for scamming two men out of a total of 10.65 million yen (approximately $72,000).
Social media reacts: One user on X speculated that Watanabe will probably receive a prison sentence without parole, and by the time she gets out, she’ll be over 30 years old.
Another X user warned that there are many people like Watanabe online.
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