Police arrests, former users sue: Are fake dating deai-kei sites facing extinction?
The days of deai-kei websites are looking numbered as high-profile cases of arrests and suing continue.
Deai-kei sites are ostensibly dating sites, though many are actually run all by men, who pose as women — sometimes as idols — in order to extract fees over long periods of time.
Police arrested the thirty-four-year-old executive of a deai-kei company earlier this month, along with the nine part-time men and women who worked there — no doubt as the “voice” of the women deceiving the men by email. The company, Wingnet, has sales in excess of 10 billion yen. An arrest warrant has also been issued for the CEO, who is a fugitive.
One forty-year-old company employee in Saitama was a member of the service. Between April and May last year was conned out of 1.36 million yen (around a third of a reasonable yearly salary!) by fees as he was deceived by communiques with who he was led to believe were former AKB idols like Atsuko Maeda.
Other users from around Japan — Miyagi, Saitama, Kanagawa, Aichi, and Hiroshima, some twenty-eight people in total — have begun legal action this week against another fake site, seeking a total of around 450 million yen.
Are we witnessing the beginning of the demise of the mini but lucrative industry?
