10th November 2023 – (Tokyo) Mai Watanabe, a 25-year-old Japanese woman, was apprehended in August for her involvement in selling a series of manuals titled “Daddy Scam Money-Making Strategies” on various online platforms. Watanabe, who operated under the online persona “Itadakijoshi Riri-chan,” targeted vulnerable middle-aged men, exploiting their emotions to extract large sums of money from them. The controversial guidebooks provided detailed instructions on how to approach and manipulate these individuals effectively. One of the tactics involved fabricating stories of a troubled childhood to elicit sympathy and financial support. Other methods included feigning illness and financial distress, convincing the victims of her urgent need for financial assistance.
The Naka Police Department revealed that Watanabe commenced the sale of these scamming manuals last year, offering them at prices ranging from 10,000 yen ($67) to 20,000 yen ($134), with additional charges for private lessons. Reports from Japanese media indicate that she managed to sell approximately 2,000 copies of her guides before her arrest.
The investigation into Watanabe’s activities began following the arrest of a 20-year-old woman who allegedly defrauded two men in Aichi Prefecture, extracting a total of 10.65 million yen ($72,000) using tactics learned from Watanabe’s manuals. Admitting her involvement, Watanabe acknowledged that she was fully aware of her customers’ intentions to engage in fraudulent activities.
Mai Watanabe’s expertise in the realm of ‘sugar daddy’ scams raises questions about her level of proficiency in this deceptive practice. In September, The Mainichi, a Japanese newspaper, reported that she was accused of swindling a 50-year-old man out of 27 million yen (approximately $182,500) by falsely claiming that she borrowed money from an acquaintance to establish her own clothing store and that she would be forced to work in a brothel to repay the debt.
Just recently, The Mainichi published further allegations against Mai Watanabe, this time from a 54-year-old man who claimed to have transferred approximately 117 million yen (about $780,000) to Riri the Sugar Baby, Watanabe’s online persona.
Watanabe’s fraudulent activities have raised concerns about the ease with which vulnerable individuals can be manipulated. Her guidebooks outlined five types of people who are most susceptible to such scams, including those who feel lonely, lack specific hobbies or a sense of purpose, have never been relied upon by others, have limited experience in relationships or love, and struggle with debt and financial management. On the other hand, individuals primarily interested in physical intimacy, those who promise financial support but fail to deliver, financially stable individuals, and narcissistic individuals are less likely to fall victim to these scams, making them unsuitable targets according to Watanabe’s advice.
