In Kabukicho, love isn’t blind — it’s expensive. For many men lured there by women on dating apps, a night out can end in financial ruin. On November 25, the Shinjuku Police Department arrested four individuals — three women and one man — on suspicion of running an unlicensed bar operation. Their alleged scheme: use dating apps to bait men, funnel them into Kabukicho bars and saddle them with exorbitant bills through deceit and coercion.
The arrests reveal a glimpse into an ecosystem of calculated exploitation thriving in Tokyo’s nightlife. It’s a business model rooted in manipulation, enabled by digital platforms, and sustained by loopholes in enforcement.
The Trap
It is alleged that three women arranged to meet three men in their 20s near Shinjuku Station. They lured the men to a bar designed for extortion, claiming they wanted to “try a place we couldn’t enter before.”
Inside, the operation unfolded with precision. They played games, with the loser taking a shot as a penalty. The bill then came with a surprise: these penalties were excluded from the promised all-you-can-drink packages and came at inflated prices.
Some men faced pressure to withdraw cash from ATMs to settle the charges on the spot. The bars locked their doors during operations to prevent escape. They are known to relocate every few months to avoid detection.
One of the suspects admitted to earning up to ¥160,000 in a single night by pocketing 20% of the victims’ payments.
The Scale of Exploitation
This isn’t an isolated grift. Last year, the Shinjuku Police Department handled 360 complaints of similar scams in Kabukicho, with claims exceeding ¥200 million. By October 2024, victim claims had already reached ¥140 million, with the highest single case topping ¥5 million ($34,000 USD).
The pattern is consistent: a woman initiates contact on an app, invites the man to a bar, and then vanishes after the extortion is complete. Police believe that many of these women are not acting alone, but are part of a larger network employing secure communication platforms to coordinate their activities.
Police suspect the existence of higher-level coordinators who recruit and train individuals to execute the scams. The use of secure apps for instructions and the transient nature of the bars suggest a deliberate attempt to evade detection, not just by law enforcement but by the victims themselves — many of whom are hesitant to report being duped.
This layered structure allows organizers to insulate themselves from legal consequences, while exploiting vulnerabilities in both digital platforms and nightlife regulations.
Policing the Shadows
For the police, the fight against Kabukicho’s scams is Sisyphean. Bars lock their doors, relocate frequently and operate in legal gray zones that allow them to avoid scrutiny. Even when arrests are made, the individuals caught are often replaceable.
Police have urged the public to remain vigilant, warning against blind trust in strangers and advising anyone confronted with suspicious charges to report them immediately.
