On Sunday 4/30 at around 10:30pm I was walking in Isezakicho, Naka Ward, Yokohama when I was approached on the street and touted.
I agreed to check the bar the woman was touting out: it was a snack/karaoke bar run by Taiwanese and though it was empty, I reluctantly paid the ¥3000 for an hour of all you can drink.
Soon after one of the girls asked me to buy drinks for her and the other girl (¥2000 each). I did that twice, so now my bill totals ¥11,000.
It’s at this point when my memory gets very hazy. I had been sipping whisky and soda but quite possibly I was drugged as well. I asked when the hour was up and was told in 20 minutes time. But I don’t know how long I stayed.
I remember that I left that snack bar, somehow ending up in another one and throwing up in the bathroom. The next day, there were insufficient funds in my account. I checked my online banking: four payments from that night that I do not recognise: ¥6,798, ¥151,800, ¥169,400 and ¥110,000. I also apparently withdrew ¥40,000 from an ATM which I do not remember. All gone.
I retraced my steps and revisited the location’s local koban and filed a police report. They say this thing happens a lot. Even though they have the address of the bar, they presumed I entered my pin which makes the payments lawful?
I called my bank but they said there’s nothing they can do unless they get correspondence from the police which, having called them again, is not forthcoming.
JET insurance doesn’t cover this kind of crime. I’m terribly upset as one might imagine, particularly because if I wasn’t using such an inaka bank, there are likely systems in place for me to claim by way of insurance.
So savings of ¥460,000 have been stolen. Can I only hope that the culprits enjoy my money and spend it wisely? Or that this serves as a warning to other hapless persons walking the streets alone at night.
46 comments
Unfortunately there is nothing you can do. As everyone should know, you never enter places with touts on the street. If it’s a good place they don’t need touts. Popular girls bars and kyabakura do huge business without them, so if a place has that it’s already sketchy. Expensive lesson learned huh?
Edit: If you (or anyone else) ever think you may have been drugged you need to go to a hospital within twelve hours. The drugs leave your system very quickly, but with proof from a hospital police may be more willing to do something.
You got scammed by a hostess bar. It happens all the time to the unwary. Consider it a very expensive lesson in naivety.
Police can do very little in these situations.
Also, you were definitely drugged. There are plenty of stories exactly like this where people have two drinks and wake up outside.
Interestingly I found that Chinese scammers are claiming to be Taiwanese. It’s funny when you start to question them about indépendance and stuff.
Drinking alone is perfectly safe…in a normal bar. Once you venture into these other places, things can go sideways pretty fast. You learned a valuable lesson, the hard way. Any place that has touts in Japan is never worth your time or money. Sorry for your losses.
I mean, your first mistake was following someone you don’t know into their bar
> Or that this serves as a warning to other hapless persons walking the streets alone at night.
This “warning” comes up every month or two. It will not help. The hard, harsh truth is that there’s a sucker around every corner, and the other night you were that sucker.
Next time, don’t think with your pecker.
I avoid this problem by simply drinking all my money away and never having savings to steal.
^*cries*
I doubt the bank you were using makes any difference.
Do places like this have payment systems where you can pay with money from your actual savings account? Or do you have a Japanese credit card? I’m just kind of curious about how they get the money. I have heard stories about checking your for a credit card or walking you to the ATM, but not usually payments from a savings account. Some people manage to dispute and get some back when it’s on credit.
No bars I drink at have payment systems that take an ATM card. So is it a snack/hostess bar thing? They might cost a lot so it’s only worth it if you have big spenders / regular suckers? If I run out of cash I have to just leave if the ATMs are already closed. Kind of prevents overspending. Though my old regular haunt would let me drink over, then present me with a bill the next week, lol.
If you are keen on spending your money in establishments where girls are paid to sit with you and act like you are interesting, my advice is to take only some cash, no cards, let them know you only have x amount at the start when you ask about the prices, and have a sober friend come in in an hour to collect you. Then you can have the Japan girl bar experience without waking up alone in a love hotel (or the alley) with a headache and no money left.
EDIT: I think Visa debit is a thing in Japan now so maybe you don’t need an actual credit card to be able to pay and have the money come from your savings? I only have experience with inaka ginkou and have only ever had a normal card.
It’s stupid peoples’ tax.
Oldest scam in the book.
Lesson learned the hard way.
I don’t think any other Japanese bank would treat the situation differently, unfortunately.
This is a scam as old as time. It happened to one of my students (middle aged Japanese salaryman) about ten years ago. He lost ¥300,000 in one night on the town. He doesn’t even remember how it happened.
I’m afraid all you can do is chalk it up to experience and move on.
I’m sorry.
Name and shame.
A shitty way to learn a lesson I’m afraid. Isezakicho is actually one of the dodgier parts of Japan to walk around alone and late at night. Wandering around blackout drunk (or drugged).. you are lucky that you are only out some savings and not beat up in an alley. It’s mostly prostitution around there so it might explain your high charges.
Stick to the other side of the river next time and chat to actual people, they are quite friendly!
My deepest sympathies, you must feel very awful right now and that’s something that anyone here should be able to empathize with.
We’ve all been scammed in some way shape or form, and these deeply painful experiences shape or wisdom going forward.
Perhaps there’s nothing you can do in this situation but you will move past it eventually, and I highly doubt anyone will ever be able to take advantage of you in this way again.
For now, it’s a massive loss, and a lot of negative feelings. One day it will be a crazy story to recount but for now just focus on processing this however you need and I promise you will feel better soon.
There are so many threads about this scam.. I thought everyone would know this by now.
This pops up almost weekly just like the divorce threads..
Might be safer to just walk around with cash in your pocket, and not too much of it either.
I remember the guy who got mugged while saving a guy on exactly this scam. That’s ok bro, things could have been worse. [link](https://www.reddit.com/r/Tokyo/comments/133m1ss/assaulted_by_the_nigerian_scammers_who_hang_out/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
1. Don’t follow touts unless you know exactly what you are getting into. Actually, if you are, you don’t need the touts to guide you anyway.
2. In general, when interacting with strangers, never go to some establishment they absolutely insist on going to, but only to “neutral” venues.
3. Lastly, set up your bank account(s) so even if someone would have your card/PIN, etc., they would not be able to withdraw or make a payment of a large sum of money. Put savings in a separate account and only leave a smaller amount available for use with the card.
It sounds like you were being very careless, honestly speaking.
Sorry to hear about what happened to you. This is very common especially in bars owned by foreigners. Bars in Roppongi owned by Nigerians do this as well. Never go to these bars.
A warning is all this is. thats an insane amount of money to get scammed out of.
Unfortunately this sort of crime is very common in Japan. Nothing like going out and being harassed by touts all night while you try to find a decent place to have a drink. Regulations around opening a bar are not very strict so it’s easy for these sorts of places to open, operate and close before word gets around. And of course the police are useless.
It cannot be emphasized enough that nobody should ever follow a tout anywhere under any circumstances. If you want to find a place to drink in an unfamiliar area, a place with a lot of google maps reviews is probably pretty safe. If there isn’t any online presence that’s pretty suspicious. Also, 無料案内所/the local tourism board/chamber of commerce might have information about local bars and those places should be safe.
Just an aside on touts, it’s now illegal in Tokyo Met. for people to tout on the street. It’s against Tokyo’s social disorder law. I think that’s great, I hope that these kind of scam cases drop off.
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I hope that you’ll be okay!
Never go to a girls bar bro . It’s never worth it my man. There is unfortunately nothing you can do but at least it’s a lesson learned I guess.
I am so sorry. Best defense is, unfortunately, never buying drinks. Or not carrying your cards with you. Put the return fare at the bottom of your shoe, or something like that.
> I agreed to check the bar the woman was touting out
My understanding is that this is a short path to getting scammed
*If touts are talking, just keep walking*
Serves as a warning to others…..most people know not to follow some chicks into a bar and expect it to go well. Sorry to say. Seems like YOU needed the warning, but never got it. I hope you get some back.
Sure you are feeling awful and probably pretty stupid but perhaps take some condolence that you are certainly not the first or last person to be a victim.
I don’t know if this would work at all but I would personally continue to follow up with the bank and police (insist on a crime report – they will brush you off but go to an actual police station rather than a koban and keep asking). The ATM money is probably gone but the online banking amounts should be somewhat traceable. I expect a slim chance you can recover anything but it might give you some comfort doing everything possible.
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Reminds me of the old adage: there’s a sucker born every minute. At least this will never happen to you again (hopefully).
A long time ago a friend of mine went to a bar with a girl in Yokohama. He also ended up getting scammed of all his money… over a period of about 20 years.
Heya, sorry to hear you were scammed. My (Japanese and litigious) girlfriend advises that you disregard what the police said and try to get free legal consultation, as effectively your consent to pay arguably wouldn’t “count” if you were drugged.
Not sure I’m allowed to post a link here, so I’ve DMed you a potential resource.
It’s a tax on naivety/stupidity. If you never get yourself into this situation again, consider it a fee you paid for a life education.
Stay safe OP. I recommend using this as motivation to consider different solutions to the way you’re feeling. If this is the reason you avoid wasting money like this for the rest of your life then you will easily save what was stolen from you that night.
Is there a way to figure out where the ATM was that you used? Idk how it works here to get security footage but if you could show that you were very intoxicated and those people were there with you maaaaaybe something could happen. Just putting that idea out.
*”JET insurance doesn’t cover this kind of crime”*
LOL oh my god almost spat out my drink … that’s gold.
Obviously the police can’t do anything because you cannot prove all the payments you did were not consensual, even the ATM withdraw (which I don’t know how you managed to remember the password if you were drugged or super wasted).
Side note, why are these establishments not investigated? Police will say “oh yeah, people get drugged by the hostess bars, that’s normal” as if that is legal? So anyone can just drug people and steal their money and police won’t be able to do anything about it?
>Can I only hope that the culprits enjoy my money and spend it wisely?
You could try going to an actual police station, filing a report, and getting a receipt. Ask persistently and politely.
If you didn’t get a receipt from the koban, they most likely just took a memo. A report was probably not filed.
If you have proper documentation from a *police station*, then you can talk to the bank.
There’s no guarantee that this will solve your problem to your satisfaction, but, most likely, you’re not going to get a call back from the koban.
#*DON’T FOLLOW THE TOUTS!*
Hey OP, just wanted to say how very sorry I am. I know there’s not much any of us can say, but I am very very sorry this happened to you. It’s lame that the police can’t do anything. Feel like they should at least investigate and shut down that bar!
Was the card visa ?
Because usually…
No matter the journey behind…
An illegal transaction remain illegal…
That’s usually why nigerian princes use western union and not CC payment or paypal.
w.u. Is not reversible. Other CC transaction are…
Aside from the 4mans from the ATM which are gone.
But it’s not between your bank and you, it’s between visa and you.
Also… if it’s a credit card… since when money transfer are processed overnight !?
I hope you were not wearing a miniskirt too, because with the overall tone of the thread you might be blamed for that, Chernobyl, the attack of pearl harbour and the asassination of archduke Franz Ferdinand in no particular order…
There are so many cases of people getting drugged in bars in Japan. Just add this to the pile.
The only thing you can do is try to make others aware of this.
The police will do absolutely NOTHING to help you. Personally, I think that drugging someone and stealing their money is orders of magnitude worse than most petty crime that the police deal with. But I guess they just don’t see it that way. They will just continue to accuse people of getting drunk on their own accord. It makes me so mad.
Probably one day a victim will have a severe reaction or overdose on the drugs and die, and maybe that will prompt the police to life a finger to stop these people doing this with impunity.
Are you sure these are withdrawals by pin and not just unauthorized charges to your card?
40,000 from atm must be you, i guess, but the three large sums after the initial 6,000ish charge could just be them running your card several times.
They don’t necessarily need you or your pin to charge your card. Check the merchant authorization method with your bank again.
Wow OP. I feel sorry for you. That sucked. I’m surprised by how many people are saying it’s your fault.
If you were a woman I’m sure the thread would be a bit more realistic about the nature of the crime.
Nobody deserves to be drugged and violated.