I’m in Tokyo. I got on this dating app called YYC (all in Japanese) for which I had to send a pic of my passport, and I’ve been getting a ton of matches. This is super surprising for me, as back in the US I’d only ever get a few matches at most, and of low quality. Same pics used. What’s weird is that most of the profiles have only one pic. But these profiles all reply to my messages fairly quickly (although the convos tend to be superficial), and none have asked me to wire money or offer sex or anything like that, so I have no idea if these are all legit profiles or all. I doubt I’m getting these matches because I am a foreigner, as I am South Asian, not white.
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Is this dating app legit?
[https://apps.apple.com/us/app/%E5%87%BA%E4%BC%9A%E3%81%84-%E3%81%AFyyc-%E3%83%AF%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AF%E3%82%A4%E3%82%B7%E3%83%BC/id1226392156](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/%E5%87%BA%E4%BC%9A%E3%81%84-%E3%81%AFyyc-%E3%83%AF%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AF%E3%82%A4%E3%82%B7%E3%83%BC/id1226392156)
13 comments
Never used the app but often the scam tries to bait you long term until they sweet talk you into spending money. Sometimes it takes a month, sometimes a year, sometimes a few years.
Have you paid money to use the app? Do you pay for each message sent? If you said yes to either, and based on the info you provided it’s likely a scam (at the least a CB, CashBack scam). Cut your loses and move on. Check this sub, there is another post about dating apps on here today…good luck.
Seems like the reviews are pretty good,
I’ve no idea, but looking at the AppStore reviews, it seems likely that they paid for 5 star reviews at the start but the recent ones are mostly dumpster-fire 1 and 2 star reviews claiming some version of fraud.
Google Play store reviews say that it’s not legit.
I remember testing it back when I was on the market. If I remember correctly, they give you a certain amount of free points, and you consume a few of those points to send (or reply to) a message.
I quickly realized that most of the profiles were Sakura (basically paid baito) that feign interest so that once you strike up a conversation, you’ll run out of points, and feel like you need to pay to keep the conversation going.
In the end I met my now wife on one of the seriouser dating apps, Pairs.
Apparently women get “miles” for responding to messages that they can exchange for rakuten points. That should go a long way explaining the engagement.
It’s not necessarily the apps that are scams so much as that some apps are just full of fake accounts.
If they knowingly use fake accounts to get you to pay for messages, that’s illegal in Japan.
If you’re a South Asian dude and consistently getting prompt responses, those accounts are definitely fake lol
If you never meet anyone in person, you’re probably being scammed.
I’m pretty sure that’s a scam. The women who are messaging you are most likely Chinese prostitution shops.
As for actual dating in Japan, OKC, Bumble, and Pairs. Pairs is a paid app but it is legit.
There’s some gamification on the other end for women, like free membership if they respond to messages, being “boosted” for more exposure, stuff like that
As the old saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true…
Good luck and try to lock down a date or two before spend more money on it
But definitely do this: Take a screenshot of your matches, crop the picture perfectly, and upload it to reverse-image websites like TinEye and Google Images. You’ll be able to find out pretty quickly if they are fake profiles or not. Though some scammers are now generating AI photo profiles so even this method isn’t as reliable as it used to be
Looks like a typical sakura setup
Women get points for chatting with men on YYC, which can be used to convert to money. I would stick with Pairs or other monthly payment services instead.
These are just used to accrue points by women, according to my friend. It’s a copy paste operation.