A 21-year-old Tokyo man is in custody after police say he scared a woman he met on a dating app into handing over about 3.7 million yen in cash and jewelry by constantly dropping “I know yakuza” threats.
Akito Nakabayashi, from Shinjuku Ward, allegedly hit the victim with the scare tactics on seven different occasions last month. Right after he asked her to be his girlfriend, the pressure started. He’d tell her things like, “I have acquaintances who are yakuza. If you trust me, I’ll protect you. You know what will happen if you betray me, right?”
Under that kind of intimidation she ended up giving him a necklace and even borrowing money from consumer finance companies just to keep up with his cash demands.
When cops arrested him, Nakabayashi admitted to the extortion and went further, saying he’d taken money from other women too. Police are already looking into at least seven similar complaints from other victims.
Pretty bold move for a 21-year-old to try running a yakuza-cosplay shakedown on dating apps… until it catches up with you.
