Destinations › Japan › Tokyo › Scams
Tokyo, Japan
13 reported scam patterns travellers run into in Tokyo, what they look like, and how to sidestep them.
Dating-app matches inviting tourists to a specific bar in Kabukicho that turns out to be a bottakuri operation working with the match.
Hostess bars in Roppongi run a tab against a card left behind the counter, adding charges the customer never confirmed before the card is returned.
"Bottakuri" bars in nightlife areas like Kabukicho lure tourists in with a friendly street tout, then present a bill with massive undisclosed cover and drink charges.
Street "model" or "talent" scouts targeting young tourists — especially solo women, often late at night — with modeling job offers that turn out to be recruitment for hostess bars, not modeling work.
Costumed kimono, samurai, or cosplay performers in Asakusa/Harajuku offer photos, then demand an undisclosed and unreasonably high cash fee afterward.
A foreign "traveler" boards busy train lines showing a note claiming they've lost their wallet and need money for the airport — a recurring, named con reported over several years.
Izakaya advertise cheap beer and food prices out front, then add unexplained "service charges" to the bill.
Rare, but some unlicensed drivers near nightlife districts quote flat fares well above the metered rate.
Pickpocketing on crowded rush-hour trains serving major tourist interchange stations.
Some market stalls in tourist-heavy areas selling counterfeit branded electronics or goods.
Individuals dressed as Buddhist monks in areas like Akihabara offer trinkets or bracelets and request donations for dubious causes.
Someone claiming to represent a relief organization approaches on the street asking for cash donations to a fund that doesn't exist.
Street touts in Kabukicho aggressively soliciting for bars and clubs with misleading "cheap drinks" claims.
