A Guide to Adult Services Scams

[Sudsy]

For the less seasoned among us, a guide (occasionally tongue in cheek) to the scams and ripoffs that you need to watch out for in the P4P, sugar, and dating site scenes in Japan. As you may notice, a lot of these are common to sketchy DH sites, sugar dating sites, and unvetted escort sites. And as always, never trust a tout.

SCAM	THE BAIT	THE HOOK	DAMAGE	WHERE IT'S COMMON	HOW TO AVOID
BAIT 'N' SWITCH	You're lured in with photos of an attractive provider	You're met with someone who looks like that provider's mother. Or perhaps someone who ate her mother.	Mainly emotional	Delivery health sites Street "massage" touts Sugardaddy sites	Use known venues, or don't hand over cash until you see the provider, and never be afraid to walk away.
DATE 'N' SWITCH	You meet an attractive lady on a dating site	When you turn up she's unattractive or clearly mentally disturbed but insists on going to a hotel (usually for a fee) and is counting on you being invested enough at that point to follow through.	Mainly emotional but may turn into dine 'n' dash.	Sugarbaby sites Dating sites	Give her a small amount of cash for her time to avoid a scene, and walk away.
DINE 'N' DASH	An inexpensive escort or sugarbaby	You get to hotel room, provider insists on separate showers. When you step out of the shower, your provider is gone, along with some of your belongings.	At best, the fee for the session. At worst, everything in your wallet and anything else they could scoop up.	Sugarbaby sites Sketchy delivery health sites "Independents" from COL or MR	Don't bring anything to a date other than the money to pay for the date. Stash the rest in a coin locker if you must. Otherwise, keep your belongings in sight, and insist that the provider shower first (then they at least have to dress before they can dash).　If you brought them into your home, you're open to many other risks.
MY FRIEND IS CUTE TOO, AND SHE'S HERE	You show up at a hotel for a P4P date, and her cute friend "just happens" to be visiting.	When you show up for your date, there are more girls than you expected. They're counting on you being too excited to say no… or at least too embarrassed of being seen as cheap. In a good scenario, you get a fun threesome for a bit extra. In a bad scenario, one keeps you busy while the other goes through your clothes and wallet.	At best, you break your P4P budget and pay double. At worst, your credit cards go missing and get run up.	"Independents" from COL or MR	Don't bring anything to a date other than the money to pay for the date. Stash the rest in a coin locker if you must.
ALL MY ROWDY FRIENDS ARE COMING OVER TONIGHT	You ordered delivery services to your home or brought a new person from a dating site home.	A few days/weeks later, your home is burglarized, and specific items taken. The provider can give detailed information to her housebreaker friends regarding the location of any valuables and the types of locks, etc.	Anything that isn't nailed down	Delivery health (particularly on the cheap end) "Independents" from COL or MR Sugarbaby sites Dating sites	Do not get delivery services to your home, unless it's from a provider you know well and with whom you have a solid established relationship. Same for new partners from dating/sugarbaby sites. In your hotel make sure everything's locked away in the room safe before they come over.
SCAM	THE BAIT	THE HOOK	DAMAGE	WHERE IT'S COMMON	HOW TO AVOID
WOW! YOU'RE NEARBY!	A girl from a dating site mentions that she's doing naughty things and wouldn't you know it, she's near you!	You get to the apartment, and before you come up, she wants you to get a gift card from the nearby 7-11. Once you send the picture of the code, you're ghosted.	Up to 20K yen, plus wasted time.	Any dating or papakatsu site.	If someone (other than a well established indie) mentions a gift card or a deposit, find someone else.
OH NO, IT'S MY HUSBAND!	An attractive woman on a dating site or sugarbaby site	After a date (occasionally before), you are confronted outside the hotel by your paramour's "husband" who launches into a tirade and threatens to sue you for homewrecking, but will allow you to settle out of court at the nearest ATM.	Hundreds of thousands of yen	Dating sites Sugarbaby sites	Walk into the hotel and ask reception to call a cop. Adultery is a civil matter – extortion is criminal.
COME TO MY BAR!	A tout on the street cajoles you into going to their bar with promises of free drinks, cheap drinks, hot girls, or nice titties.	Your first drink contains GHB (roofies) or scopolamine, and they run up your cards to the limit and drain your bank accounts while you're in a suggestive state. Or sometimes they just charge you 100,000 yen for a beer and refuse to let you leave until you pay up, on threats of beatings.	Your entire credit limit and everything in your bank accounts.	Kabukicho Roppongi Shimbashi Used to be primarily Nigerians running this scam, but Chinese and South Asians have entered the market.	Don't engage with touts. Don't go with touts. Don't bring credit cards or more cash than you are prepared to spend in an evening if you are drinking in these areas.
YOUR NEW FRIEND KNOWS A BAR	A friendly stranger starts chatting with you at a bar. Might be a guy, might be an attractive lady. They suggest moving on to their friend's bar.	You wake up with drained bank accounts and maxed out credit cards. Your "friend" took you to one of the bars above. Becoming more common as more people become aware of the predatory nature of the touts.	Your entire credit limit and everything in your bank accounts.	Kabukicho Roppongi Shimbashi	Don't let yourself be relocated by people you just met.
YOUR NEW FRIEND IS A PHARMACIST	A friendly stranger starts chatting with you at a bar. Might be a guy, might be an attractive lady.	You wake up with drained bank accounts and maxed out credit cards. Your "friend" spiked your drink and then took you to one of the bars above. Becoming more common as more people become aware of the predatory nature of the touts.	Your entire credit limit and everything in your bank accounts.	Kabukicho Roppongi Shimbashi	Keep an eye on your drink around anyone you don't know who suddenly decides to join your table.
I KNOW A PLACE!	A pretty girl you meet in a bar or on a dating site suggests going to her "a bar "she knows".	She is getting a commission on the very expensive drinks sold in that bar. You are getting nothing but the bill and a pair of blue balls.	Hundreds of thousands	Dating sites Bars in Roppongi To a lesser degree bars in Shinjuku or Shibuya	If a woman on a dating site suggests Roppongi as a first meetup point, it's not good (and there's no hotels in that area). If a cute girl in a bar tries to steer you out of that venue to another bar, it's almost certain. In either case, avoid. Also a favorite of strippers at Roppongi strip clubs. If they suggest (or you end up in front of) Tokyo Sports Café, you're 100% being scammed.
SCAM	THE BAIT	THE HOOK	DAMAGE	WHERE IT'S COMMON	HOW TO AVOID
THE NEVERENDING UPSELL	You follow a pretty "massaji" tout for a massage with a heavily implied happy ending.	A stream of extra charges begins, usually starting with a few thousand for her top to come off. Much like videogame companies, they're counting on you not to notice the sum total of your "microtransactions" – in the end you pay 30-40,000 yen for a blowjob with a saran wrap "condom"	30-40,000	Street touts in Shibuya, Shimbashi, Ueno	Don't engage with touts. Don't go with touts. Don't bring more cash than you are prepared to spend.
THE HELPFUL GUIDE	You follow a tout who takes you to a shop and collects payment for this service.	It's sometimes a health shop or soapland, sometimes just a kyabakura – but it's always a place that you could have just gone to on your own.	5-50,000	Street touts in Kabukicho, Ikebukuro, Ueno, and Yoshiwara	Don't engage with touts. Don't go with touts.
THE LESS THAN HELPFUL GUIDE	You follow a tout who takes you to a hotel where a girl will be delivered to you	The girl never comes. And neither do you.	50-100,000	Street touts in Kabukicho, Ikebukuro, Ueno	Don't engage with touts. Don't go with touts. Never pay in advance at a hotel.
THE CONCERNED MONGER	A selfless "Senior member" of a sex forum warns you of the dangers of being arrested, waterboarded, drugged, or robbed when partaking anywhere in Tokyo, except at the one place recommended by the concerned monger.	You are being sent to a guaranteed Gajin-friendly, FS-tolerant, no Japanese needed establishment. When you get there, all of the knock-out ladies shown on the website are on vacation, or on the rag. When you leave, you are broke.	20-80,000	On an international website that may not be mentioned here. (This is why you should stick to well moderated forums like TAG)	Don't be gullible, and don't believe what you read on a forum unless it is from a well respected member (account age means nothing) and/or corroborated by multiple other members.
THE UNWELCOME WOMB PARASITE	The sugar baby or tinder date lets you hit it raw.	6 weeks later the dreaded phrase, "I'm late" is uttered, followed by demands for funds for an abortion. Often a fabrication, or if it's a real pregnancy, may be making the same demand to multiple guys.	100-200,000	Dating sites Sugar babies	Wrap up when you play. Otherwise, insist on a pregnancy test before ponying up.
SCAM	THE BAIT	THE HOOK	DAMAGE	WHERE IT'S COMMON	HOW TO AVOID
THE WELCOME WOMB PARASITE	The sugar baby or tinder date lets you hit it raw.	6 weeks later the dreaded phrase, "I'm late" is uttered, followed by demands for matrimony. Sometimes used as a hard sell option to add some compensation to the previous scenario (Unwelcome Womb Parasite)	See below	Dating sites Sugar babies	Wrap up when you play. Otherwise, insist on a pregnancy test before ponying up. DEFINITELY, insist on a prenatal paternity test before heading to the altar.
MATRIMONY	You meet a gal who fiddles your fancy, and you decide to take the plunge.	That "I do" at the altar also signifies the last time she says "I do" to a large number of pleasurable activities.	From 50-100% of your entire net worth.	Everpresent danger for those who haven't already been hooked.	Just find a girl you don't like, and buy her a house.

Thanks to @Babaram for "The Concerned Monger"

Last update 2024/01/20