This is a news story I just saw. Student loans seem like a common reason in dating clubs too, so why was this woman arrested?

I’m Maezawa from the President’s Office, and I’ll answer this too. With cases like this, the details usually don’t become clear until a follow-up report comes out later, but based on what we know now, I imagine it went something like this. It says, “In January, the Yao Police Station received a report from the victim and began an investigation,” so I think it started when the man went to the police. If you think about what it means for the police to get involved, this is only speculation, but I imagine the woman asked him to lend her money. Then perhaps she became unreachable afterward, leading him to consult the police because she had borrowed the money but wouldn’t pay it back. Actually, the article says: “She is suspected of defrauding a man in his 60s of a total of 16 million yen in 17 separate transactions between June and July, under the pretext of borrowing money to repay university scholarships and other debts.” So apparently, she really did ask him to lend her money. It’s difficult to arrest someone for fraud simply because they failed to repay a loan. The usual excuse seems to be that they intended to repay it but became unable to do so—and if they genuinely intended to repay it, it doesn’t constitute fraud. https://article.auone.jp/detail/1/2/2/101_2_r_20210928_1632822612336936 The article also says: “There was reportedly no evidence that the money she received from the two men had been used to repay the debts.” So I assume that, after investigating, the police concluded that because she had made no repayments whatsoever, she had never intended to repay the money in the first place—meaning the elements of fraud were met—and arrested her. So, if you say you need allowance because you have scholarship payments to make, you won’t be arrested regardless of whether you actually use the allowance to repay them. And even if someone tells you to pay it back because you’re breaking up, you don’t have to return it. But if you say, “Lend me the money,” then you become obligated to repay it. It seems like it’s really just that simple.

I’m Tetsu, a male member. Fraud is considered difficult to prosecute because you have to prove that someone was actually deceived. In this case, if she really had still had student loans outstanding, she probably couldn’t have been apprehended. If she said, “I intended to pay it back,” you couldn’t definitively say she had deceived anyone. The fact that it led to an arrest means there was clear evidence that someone had been deceived. By the way, the tax filing has nothing to do with it. Even if a tax audit confirms an obvious crime such as fraud or embezzlement, the tax office cannot report it to the police. It is explicitly stipulated that information discovered during a tax audit may only be used for tax filing and payment purposes. The tax authorities—more precisely, the National Tax Agency—can only file criminal complaints for violations related to taxes, such as violations of tax laws or the Certified Public Tax Accountant Act. P.S. Kazu, Sorry for butting in. I often hear about embezzlement being discovered during tax audits, so at first I also assumed they would “notify the police.” However, it is standard practice for the investigator to simply inform the company of the facts and leave, saying, “You’ll need to discuss the rest with the company and the person involved.” Here’s one more point. When embezzlement is discovered during a tax audit, the money taken is treated as a loan, so interest has to be recorded. For the company, that means a double blow: the embezzlement itself being uncovered and additional taxes being imposed on the interest. Business owners, take note.

I’m Kazu, a male member. As the article’s title says, I assume she was arrested because there were suspicions of fraud. Put simply, it was probably because the men who gave her money didn’t believe they were giving her an allowance. At dating clubs, the usual practice is to exchange an allowance. I think exchanging other money or gifts can lead to misunderstandings about each person’s intentions and cause trouble. Another reason this became a criminal case is likely that multiple men felt they had been defrauded by the same woman. For a fraud charge to be established, it’s important to show that the perpetrator deceived the victim. If only one person claims to have been deceived, it could perhaps be seen as a misunderstanding between the two parties. But when multiple people say they were deceived, suspicion that the perpetrator intentionally deceived the victims becomes much stronger. Put simply, something happening once could be coincidence, but if it happens repeatedly within a short period, it’s reasonable to assume it wasn’t accidental. The fact that there was also a man giving her instructions is another important point. If she had acted alone, it would be impossible to look inside her mind, so it would be difficult to prove that she had intended to deceive people. But if several people were working together, they would have been communicating with one another, making it more likely that evidence would be found showing they had deliberately deceived people. This was probably another reason the police decided to make arrests and gather evidence. I forgot to mention this, but I also think the large amount of money involved was a reason for the arrest. If it had been, say, ¥200,000, I don’t think it would have led to an arrest. I don’t know what would have happened if it had been ¥2 million. As an aside, regarding tax filings, I think the tax office will probably get involved once the investigation into this case has progressed to a certain point. Conversely, it’s also possible that a tax audit came first and led the police to begin investigating. In other words, failing to file taxes creates not only the risk of additional taxes being imposed, but also the risk that your allowance payments will be dug up later. If the woman is audited and, during a third-party investigation, the tax office visits a man she didn’t part ways with amicably, things could become troublesome if he thinks, “I was deceived!” I think filing your taxes is ultimately in your own best interest. One additional note after reading Tetsu’s answer: I didn’t know that. I’ve revised my answer accordingly.