Police have arrested a 27-year-old male host on suspicion of violating the amusement business law by using a dating app to solicit female customers to a host club in Tokyo.
The arrest marked the first crackdown in the country on cases involving soliciting customers to restaurants and pubs through dating apps, according to the capital’s Metropolitan Police Department.
The suspect, Takuto Takeoka, remained silent during questioning, people familiar with the investigation said.
Takeoka allegedly contacted two women, ages 27 and 28, through a matching app between May and July last year while posing as an information technology industry professional.
He then promised them romantic relationships, later disclosed his job and urged them to come to his host club, where male companions entertain women, in the Kabukicho district in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
The suspect allegedly generated about ¥140 million ($910,000) in revenue from the women over the past year. He pressured them to borrow money from consumer finance companies to make payments, threatening to end the relationship if they didn’t.
One of the women told police, “All the money that I had worked hard to earn was taken away and I can no longer have trust in people.”
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