<figure id="attachment_293884" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-293884" style="width: 5760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="4f913eb6"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/02/aflo_23388459.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-293884" class="wp-caption-text">Many problems between men and women using matching apps (Photo: Image) (Image: Afro)</figcaption></figure>
 According to a survey conducted by Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Mutual last November, one in five couples has successfully married through matching apps.
 Matching apps allow users to register personal information, such as a profile, and search for a partner. It is very easy to use and almost free for women. Men have to pay a fee, but it is much cheaper than joining a dating agency.
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
 On the other hand, unlike marriage agencies, submission of a bachelor&#8217;s certificate is &#8220;optional&#8221; or not required, so there are many people who are just looking for fun and bad women in the mix. In addition, there is no end to the number of people who get caught up in prenuptial fraud and other troubles, and there is a big trap lurking in the apps.
 We have recreated the reality of fraudulent damage caused by marriage activity apps with the cooperation of a detective agency that not only conducts investigations but also helps clients solve their problems. Recently, the number of victims of app fraud has doubled more than that of cheating investigations; a detective in his 30s told us about a case of marriage activity app fraud.
<h2> &lt;Case Study 1&gt; Salesman swindled out of 3 million yen by a married woman who looked like Haruna Kawaguchi</h2>
<figure id="attachment_293886" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-293886" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="2fb7a7fb"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/02/eb5e07e3ec45d217ff7cfee82dcc9a92.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-293886" class="wp-caption-text"> A detective explains about problems between men and women.</figcaption></figure>
 Toru Kikuchi (45), a sales representative for a manufacturer, met a 32-year-old housewife, Mio (pseudonym), on a matching application and initially decided to go out with her as a drinking companion.
 Since Mio&#8217;s profile said that she was &#8220;in the process of devising a divorce,&#8221; Kikuchi was hoping for &#8220;the possibility of marriage. Mio, with her bright eyes, is a beautiful woman who looks like Haruna Kawaguchi, an actress. The chubby Mr. Kikuchi has never been popular with women, and the last time he dated a woman was 10 years ago. He had last dated a woman 10 years ago, which is why he was so smitten with Mio.
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
 After several dates at Japanese-style pubs and driving around, they began to have a sexual relationship. A month later, Mio told Kikuchi in tears that her husband had found out about their relationship.
 Her husband said he would agree to a divorce if she paid him 3 million yen. I want to marry you if we get divorced. I want to marry you after we get divorced, so could you please pay the 3 million yen up front?
 Kikuchi gave Mio 3 million yen in cash. The day after he gave her the money, however, Mio told him that she was going to marry him.
 The day after I gave her the money, however, I lost contact with her. She may have blocked my line, or maybe she didn&#8217;t even read it.
 Mr. Kikuchi became concerned that Mio might be in danger, and at the same time, his suspicion that he might have been cheated grew. Mr. Kikuchi hired a detective agency.
 I drove her home on the way back from a drive, so I remembered her address,&#8221; he said. So I asked the detective to investigate and, as I thought, &#8230;&#8230;&#8221; (see above).
 She lived with her husband in a house on the border between Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture. The detective found that Mio had been dating several men on a matching app in conspiracy with her husband, and that they were using the same tactics to take money from each other.
 The detective advised me that if I sued her directly, on the contrary, the husband might demand alimony on the grounds that he had been unfaithful to his wife. So, as evidence of marriage fraud, I gathered up all the correspondence between her and the detective and asked my lawyer to file a lawsuit.
 The case, in which both parties&#8217; lawyers intervened, resulted in a compensation payment of 2 million yen to Ms. Kikuchi.
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" The surprising reason why she paid the fee even though she was betrayed."></div>
<figure id="attachment_293887" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-293887" style="width: 5760px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="04cd4e2d"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/02/aflo_23388465.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-293887" class="wp-caption-text">Marriages often end in divorce due to unexpected circumstances (Photo: Image. (Image: Afro)</figcaption></figure>
<h2> Case Study 2: The end of a business manager who married a Chinese woman 24 years younger than himself</h2>
 Daisuke Sato (pseudonym, 52), a business manager living in the Tokai region, married a 28-year-old Chinese woman he met on the popular matching application &#8220;Pairs. Mr. Sato was proud of his slender Chinese wife with long, silky hair.
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
 However, when he asked her for sexual intercourse, not only did she not respond, but she would leave the house at 10:00 in the morning and return home at 7:00 the next morning. When Mr. Sato asked his wife why she did not respond, he suspected that she had entered into a sham marriage in order to obtain permanent residency. Since the couple&#8217;s relationship had been broken from the beginning, Mr. Sato requested a divorce and asked a detective to investigate his wife&#8217;s behavior.
 I was surprised when I saw the detective&#8217;s findings,&#8221; Mr. Sato said. My wife was working at a sex massage parlor in a big city in the Tokai region. There was no signboard there, and there were signs of illegal business. Moreover, there was even a picture of her coming out of a love hotel with the owner of the store. I was furious.&#8221;
 However, the detective stopped him, saying, &#8220;Stop any further investigation. In fact, the manager of the sexual massage parlor with whom the Chinese wife had a relationship was an anti-company who was also involved with the yakuza. The detective offered to stop further investigation because of the high risk of getting involved.
 He said, &#8220;Since there was adultery, we should set up a divorce settlement and get a divorce and alimony, but if there is a half-breed in the wife&#8217;s back pocket, her life may be in danger. So the detective recommended an amicable divorce with alimony,&#8221; said Mr. Sato.
 Mr. Sato immediately asked his wife for a divorce. A couple of days later, she agreed, saying, &#8220;Okay,&#8221; and paid him 5 million yen in alimony.
 Although their marriage had never been anything like a married couple, 5 million yen may not be too much to pay in exchange for the safety of their lives.
<h2> Case 3〉A guilty married man who took advantage of a 39-year-old woman&#8217;s impatience</h2>
<figure id="attachment_293888" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-293888" style="width: 1024px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="89dfc51e"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/02/2fbd9cb8d0f45a75d77d1a181d0eff49.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-293888" class="wp-caption-text"> Detective items such as a small camera and IC recorder</figcaption></figure>
 Yukari Abe (pseudonym, 41), a Tokyo resident who works for an event-related company, had been dating a man two years her senior, a government employee, whom she met on a matching application for three years. At the time of their acquaintance, she was 39 years old. She was impatient to get married. She believed that the man was dating her on the premise of marriage.
<div data-friday-ad-slot="AD_inArticle"></div>
 But last December, he suddenly broke up with me. The reason was that his mother was undergoing treatment for a mental illness, and the results of an AIDS test were positive. I was stunned when he told me he couldn&#8217;t have children and that we should break up amicably.&#8221;
 Since she had been told about the man&#8217;s mother&#8217;s illness from the beginning of their relationship, she was not convinced when he cited it as one of the reasons why they could not get married.
 Unsatisfied with the reason for the breakup, Yukari asked a detective to investigate, and the detective asked her to stall as long as possible. She then asked the man to show her the AIDS test certificate, but he dodged her request.
 Our dates were always on Saturdays, and we met outside. His father was working alone in the Tohoku region, and I never went to his parents&#8217; house because my mother was sick.
 Yukari was perplexed that the man she had been dating with the intention of marrying her suddenly broke up with her, but she was astonished when she saw the detective&#8217;s findings. He had a family.
 It was true that his mother was ill and his father was working alone, but he had two small children in kindergarten and his wife was a housewife.
 She was so shocked that she had a hard time accepting the reality that she had been cheated by the man. However, encouraged by his lawyer&#8217;s encouraging words, &#8220;Let&#8217;s have him take full legal responsibility,&#8221; he sued the man who cheated him in a civil suit, offering 2 million yen and receiving 1.5 million yen in damages in the judgment. He is currently seeking ways to heal his emotional wounds.
 A representative of a detective agency advises, &#8220;Do not trust a person easily even after meeting him or her,&#8221; and says, &#8220;The best countermeasure is not to use apps.
 Nevertheless, those who have few chances to meet people will see potential in apps. For the perpetrators, there seem to be some common characteristics among those who are easy to fool.
 One is that people with little romantic experience are easy targets. Another is that people who have never been popular before are more likely to be attracted by the &#8220;likes&#8221; and approvals they receive on apps. and are fooled into believing that their &#8220;dark days&#8221; are all behind them. If it is difficult to be objective, it may be a good idea to introduce them to your relatives and friends once you are in a relationship to prevent damage.
 Furthermore, if money is involved, such as &#8220;being asked for money,&#8221; be suspicious.
 Women are more likely to be taken advantage of in a period of impatience just before they reach the age of 29 or 39. Since impatience and prudence are contradictory, it is necessary to introduce her to a trusted senior or friend. Do not proceed with marriage talk alone.

 Afro

 Columnist, novelist, and writer. Born in Akita Prefecture. Graduated from Rikkyo University, Department of Japanese Literature, and has interviewed more than 20,000 working women about their work, love, marital life, and marriage. She has written a column from a woman's point of view, "'Expiration Date' Makes Women Uncomfortable" (Gendai Business), as well as a movie column. Her reports include "Alumni Love" (Fujin Koron) and "The Poverty of Highly Educated Women" (Sunday Mainichi). She has also written about marital problems in such articles as "Women Who Don't Divorce Strategically" (Shukan Asahi). In April 2020, her article in Nikkan SPA ranked No. 1 overall in Yahoo! In 2007, she was cured of Guillain-Barré syndrome, an intractable disease that affects only one in 100,000 people, without any aftereffects.

 Kaoru Natsume

 One out of five couples who get married use matching apps. On the other hand, there have been a number of troubles as well. A specialized detective agency reveals a muddled casebook. Here are some spine-chilling stories of men and women who are no strangers to trouble.

A &#8220;married woman who looks like Haruna Kawaguchi&#8221; cheated him out of 3 million yen&#8230; &#8220;A detective specializing in matching apps&#8221; reveals a collection of horrifying troubles.

A “married woman who looks like Haruna Kawaguchi” cheated him out of 3 million yen… “A detective specializing in matching apps” reveals a collection of horrifying troubles.

Access Ranking