Tokyo man accused of scamming hostesses with fake inheritance

TOKYO (TR) – A man in his 60s on trial for defrauding club hostesses out of millions of yen with a fake “living inheritance” scheme told the Tokyo District Court earlier this month that he committed the crimes simply because he “wanted to look cool.”

Masahiro Nakatani, aged 60 upon his arrest last year, is accused of swindling a total of 6.5 million yen from five young women. During his first hearing on September 4, the court heard details of his crude methods and highly speculative repayment plans, reports the site for weekly tabloid Friday (Sep. 16).

According to the prosecution, Nakatani approached a hostess in her 20s working in the Kabukicho red-light district of Shinjuku Ward in July of last year. “I want to give you a 5 million yen living inheritance,” he allegedly told her. “But you need to pay 1 million yen upfront to cover the gift tax.”

As soon as the victim handed over the cash, Nakatani vanished. The crime came to light after the hostess, unable to contact him, consulted the police. Investigations revealed Nakatani had used the exact same tactic to dupe four other women.

A Tokyo man in his 60s is on trial for scamming hostesses with fake inheritance scheme (X)

“Offering financial support”

Appearing in court with a shaved head and deeply wrinkled face, Nakatani looked older than his 60 years, though he made a point of dressing in a high-end streetwear black t-shirt and tight white jeans.

When pressed by his defense lawyer on why he resorted to fraud, Nakatani fell into a 30-second silence before admitting, “A big factor is that I wanted to show off.”

Later, when the judge asked him to elaborate, he added, “To use Kansai dialect, I wanted to look cool. I wanted to gain their interest by offering financial support.”

Nakatani admitted that the stolen funds were spent on living expenses, dining out, and “buying clothes for other girls.”

This confession drew a sharp glare and a heavy sigh from his common-law wife of over 20 years, who took the stand as a witness. Operating under the belief that her husband was just a hardworking construction subcontractor, she expressed disgust that Nakatani targeted victims the same age as their own disabled daughter in her 20s.

“If he does this again, I will cut all ties and not let him see our daughter,” she told the court.

Masahiro Nakatani (X)

Fully intended to refund them

Despite severing contact with the victims, Nakatani absurdly claimed he had fully intended to refund them. When prosecutors pointed out the contradiction of him blocking the women’s phone numbers, he blamed technological incompetence, claiming, “I’m not good with mobile phones, so I didn’t realize they were blocked.”

Nakatani insisted his true profession was event planning, and that he intended to repay the 6.5 million yen using advance fees from a future gig. When the judge questioned how a single event could net him that much pure profit after expenses, Nakatani confidently declared, “The event is huge.”

Unmoved by his grandiose claims, prosecutors demanded a four-year prison sentence, citing the highly habitual nature of scamming five women in such a short period.

The verdict is scheduled to be handed down on October 20.

Published in Crime , News and Tabloid

Amy Takahashi reads tabloids for The Tokyo Reporter

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东京（TR）——一名60多岁的男子因利用虚假的“生前继承”计划诈骗夜总会女招待数百万日元而受审。本月初，他在东京地方法院表示，他犯罪仅仅是因为“想让自己看起来很酷”。

去年被捕时60岁的中谷正弘被控诈骗五名年轻女性共计650万日元。据周刊小报《星期五》（9月16日）网站报道，在9月4日的首次庭审中，法庭听取了他拙劣的诈骗手法和极不靠谱的还款计划的细节。

据检方称，去年7月，中谷接近了一名在新宿区歌舞伎町红灯区工作的20多岁的女招待。他据称对她说：“我想给你500万日元的遗产，但你需要先支付100万日元作为赠与税。”

受害者交出现金后，中谷立刻消失得无影无踪。女招待联系不上他，于是报警，案件才得以曝光。调查显示，中谷曾用同样的手法诈骗过另外四名女性。

一名60多岁的东京男子因涉嫌以虚假遗产计划诈骗陪酒女郎而受审（X）

“提供财政支持”

中谷剃着光头，脸上布满皱纹，出现在法庭上，看起来比实际年龄 60 岁要老得多，尽管他特意穿着一件高档街头服饰黑色 T 恤和紧身白色牛仔裤。

当辩护律师追问中谷为何要诉诸欺诈时，中谷沉默了 30 秒，然后承认：“一个重要因素是我想炫耀。”

后来，当法官要求他详细说明时，他补充道：“我用关西腔是为了显得自己很酷。我想通过提供经济支持来引起他们的兴趣。”

中谷承认，偷来的钱被用于生活开支、外出就餐以及“给其他女孩买衣服”。

这番供述引起了与他同居二十余年的妻子的强烈反感和叹息。她作为证人出庭作证，一直认为丈夫只是个勤劳的建筑分包商，因此对中谷选择与他们二十多岁的残疾女儿年龄相仿的受害者下手感到十分愤慨。

“如果他再这样做，我将断绝一切关系，不让他见我们的女儿，”她告诉法庭。

中谷正弘（X）

完全打算退款

尽管中谷断绝了与受害者的联系，但他却荒谬地声称自己完全打算退款。当检察官指出他屏蔽了这些女性的电话号码这一行为自相矛盾时，他却将责任推卸给技术上的无知，声称：“我不擅长使用手机，所以没意识到我的号码被屏蔽了。”

中谷坚称他真正的职业是活动策划，并打算用未来活动的预付款偿还650万日元。当法官质疑一个活动如何能在扣除成本后为他带来如此巨额的纯利润时，中谷自信地宣称：“这个活动规模很大。”

检察官不为他的夸张说法所动摇，并要求判处他四年监禁，理由是他在如此短的时间内诈骗了五名女性，属于惯犯行为。

判决将于10月20日宣判。

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