There have been a number of cases in which people become victims of fraud or sexual assault after using a dating app. Police have stepped up precautionary efforts amid an impact of the novel coronavirus, which increases the number of people refraining from going or dining out, and who are possibly using smartphone apps to find a companion.
"I will never use a dating app again," said a woman in her 30s living in Tokyo.
Last year, she became acquainted with a 47-year-old man, who claimed to be an IT company president with an annual income of more than 10 million yen, through a dating app which is said to have many registered high-income male members. The man, who said he was 37 years old, introduced himself in the app as someone who "wants to have children and actively participate in housework and child-rearing."
The woman dined and traveled with the man several times but, he stole her credit card information and, for instance, spent about 300,000 yen to pay the bills for hotels where he had stayed with other women, without her consent.
The man was arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department in March and was indicted for computer-related fraud. Investigations found that he inflicted similar damages to dozens of women. "I was even thinking of marrying him. I can never forgive him," the woman said.
According to industry sources, dating apps first appeared in the nation around 2012. With the spread of smartphones, the number of app users increased, and the market expanded to about 51 billion yen in 2019, about four times the level in 2015.
Unlike once-popular dating websites, many men and women are said to use the apps to have serious relationships, including those leading to marriage, and there are many couples who eventually walk down the aisle.
According to a major dating app operator, the exchange of messages through its app has been active even after the spread of the new coronavirus infection in March, as people came to spend more time on the service while refraining from going out.
In the meantime, there are many crimes that app users have fell victim to, not only fraud, but also sexual assault.
In December 2018, a woman in her 30s from Tokyo was made to take a sleeping pill and then raped by a bank employee in his 20s, whom she met through an app. The man was arrested by the MPD on suspicion of raping her in July 2019. A company employee in his 40s also was arrested by the Maebashi prefectural police in December last year for alleged sexual assault -- among other charges -- of a woman in her 20s, whom he met via an app.
The cases that have come to light are believed to be the tip of the iceberg. "Such apps should be useful as they can help you easily find someone compatible, but you should also realize that meeting a stranger can get you involved in some kind of crime," a senior MPD official said.
In the face of dating app-related crimes, dating app operators are taking voluntary measures to protect the safety of users.
In order to prevent people from using its app to conceal their identity, a major dating app operator obliges prospective members to submit such documents as a diploma and proof of earnings when registering. Another dating app operator introduced a stricter system in spring to verify the identities of users by way of checking photos taken by users themselves using a smartphone and driver's license and other ID photos.
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