The Nagoya District Court on Monday imposed a nine-year prison term and an ¥8 million ($51,700) fine on a 25-year-old woman — who went by the moniker “Sugar Baby Riri” — for swindling three men out of ¥156 million through a romance scam and for selling a manual on how to commit similar acts of fraud.

'Sugar Baby Riri' gets nine-year prison term over romance scam
Mai Watanabe, who went by the moniker “Sugar Baby Riri,” dated older men and swindled them out of money by telling them fictitious heartbreaking stories about herself to gain their sympathy.

Mai Watanabe, who went by the moniker “Sugar Baby Riri,” dated older men and swindled them out of money by telling them fictitious heartbreaking stories about herself to gain their sympathy.

The Nagoya District Court on Monday imposed a nine-year prison term and an ¥8 million ($51,700) fine on a 25-year-old woman — who went by the moniker “Sugar Baby Riri” — for swindling three men out of ¥156 million through a romance scam and for selling a manual on how to commit similar acts of fraud.
The defendant, whose real name is Mai Watanabe, spent the money she obtained from the three men on a host whom she fell in love with, with the aim of making him No. 1 in terms of sales at the club where he works in Tokyo’s Kabukicho entertainment district, the court found.

Presiding Judge Yoichi Omura condemned the defendant, saying that “her motive to contribute to the sales of a host is truly selfish, and there is no room for leniency.”

"She took advantage of (the victims') feelings for her," Omura said.

Watanabe pleaded guilty during the trial in December.

“I thought it was fair game to commit fraud for the sake of the host,” Watanabe said when questioned during the trial. But she also showed remorse, saying that she “did something really bad.”

Watanabe, who went by the moniker “Itadakijoshi Riri-chan,” which roughly translates as Sugar Baby Riri, dated older men and swindled them out of money by telling them fictitious heartbreaking stories about herself to gain their sympathy.

Itadakijoshi, which literally means girls who receive, refers to young women who date or have sex with older men in exchange for financial benefits. With many such women swindling large amounts of money from men in recent years, itadakijoshi was nominated as one of the top 30 buzzwords of 2023.

Watanabe was charged with defrauding three men in their 50s out of a total of ¥155.8 million in cash between 2021 and 2023, and with helping a 21-year-old woman in Nagoya defraud two men of a total of about ¥10 million in 2022 by selling her a manual titled "A Reference Book for Sugar Babies.”