Tokyo underworld... Nigerians... Russian prostitutes...

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Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 4:44 am

Not sure if this is the right place to post this amazing story from the other night, but I did see there were some topics here about telephone scams and it does relate to our favorite Nigerian scammers.

I am currently in Tokyo for work and the first night I got in to town I was starving. My coworker and I had to meet the client for some drinks and we decided we would find some food afterwards and get some rest. One thing leads to another and we're walking around with everyone hopping between English pubs. It was a rather fun night. One thing I noticed were lots of solicitors trying to get you to go to their girly bars. All of the solicitors were from African nations and when I asked, a good majority said Nigeria.

I decided that the only way to get these guys to leave us alone would be if I just told them I was gay and not interested in women. It worked great for the next few guys until they started to tell me that they could get men to dance for me in these bars too. I got caught up watching the lunar eclipse and then my party of people started to make their way to this office building. I followed them into the building and up the elevator.

What we came into was one of the nastiest places I have ever been. Large Russian women in ridiculously skimpy clothes clawing at the new arrivals, several large Nigerian men in suits managing the place, and no signage or menus. I sat quietly on the couch and whenever one of these women would come for company, I would politely refuse on the grounds that I am gay. I had two beers and then my coworker decided it was time to leave. And that is when things got REALLY CRAZY.

We walked towards the elevator and I put one foot in and I was grabbed and physically removed from the elevator. I was told that I owed close to $800 USD and would not be allowed to leave until I paid. My coworker backed me up and said that it was not even possible that I owed that much. I told the manager to call the police and we'd have them sort it out. He said they didn't need the police involved. I then told him that I would call the US Embassy and he said I should do it. I got my phone out and there was NO SIGNAL. It was at that point that I saw 4 US military guys in civilian clothes in a small waiting room attached to the lobby. They were all trying to make phone calls with no luck. They told me that they were told that they owed $3000 and they had no signal on all of their phones.

It was at this point that I was physically removed from their room by two bouncers that told me that I had my own problem to deal with. We argued back and forth and I told them I was not paying. I had $1 in my wallet and they would not take American Express. During all of this, I had several chances to enter the elevator, to which I was physically removed before I could escape. They dragged me to the manager and he was a beast of a man. I am 6'1" and he was about 5'7" but his head was about as big around as my waist. I walked right up to him, looked in his eyes and asked him if he was Nigerian. I already knew my answer because he and his security guys mentioned it to the other group. He looked at me and said "Why? What does that matter?" and I said "Because you are a scammer like the rest of the Nigerians that try to do business with me." Probably not the best thing to say, but at that point I had nothing to lose. I couldn't call the cops or embassy and I failed every attempt to escape.

The manager's face went into a scowl and I braced for him to just start kicking my ass. His face went back into a smile and he put his hand on my shoulder and told me to just take care of my bill. My coworker said he could put the charges on his personal credit card but they refused to take it from him. They said I had to pay with my own card. Once again I told them I did not have a credit card. They finally agreed to take my coworker's card only if he wrote a letter authorizing his card to be used. He wrote the letter and actually put "I DO NOT AUTHORIZE MY CARD" and handed it to the manager. He looked it over and said "This looks good my friend!" Big smiles all around, a pat on the back for my coworker and I and we're escorted to the elevator.

I look back and see the military guys still in the small waiting room. They are all young and they all look scared. I walk over there to see if I can get some information from them and help them once I'm outside and before I can get one word out, I'm dragged out in a headlock. They close the curtains to their room and throw me in the elevator.

Since that night we have filed a dispute with the credit card company because I'm sure that we have a definite case for a chargeback. During this whole ordeal I was extremely polite and calm. I called the scammers "sir" and never touched a single one of them even when they were manhandling me. I am looking into filing a report with the US Embassy here just in case it helps anyone else. It would be great to get the local police involved because the place was a front for both drugs and prostitution.

Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 5:07 am

Dude! That's crazy. I'm glad that you're o.k. Very Happy

Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2011 2:29 pm

Glad you are OK. I am sorry you had such an experience with the dark side of life. I wonder what happened to those poor US service men.

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 12:57 pm

Couple of updates:

The Embassy does not really care about these types of matters since they do not do any investigations of their own.

The credit card company said they needed a copy of the receipt before they could process the dispute. They did not give my coworker a copy of the receipt at all.

Last night my coworker and I were with a Japanese friend looking for a legitimate massage place when I heard "HELLO <MY REAL NAME> MY FRIEND!" I turn around and there is one of the Nigerians holding out his hand with a big smile on his face. My Japanese friend was talking to someone advertising a massage place and the scammer said "Come with me, I'll take you to the best massage place in town!" to which my friend replied with some very harsh words.

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 669

I read about this scheme somewhere. I thought it was on this forum, but I couldn't find the thread. I think the thing I read pertained to it happening to people in some of the former Soviet countries. Other than that it sounds pretty much identical.

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2011 2:42 pm

Soho in London used to be, maybe still is, I don't know, full of tales of visitors to the, ehem, seedier type of establishment, who were befriended by young ladies, insisting that the visitor bought them a drink or two, with a vague hint of a possibility of being something more than good friends later.

Those who went along with this were later presented with a drinks bill for many hundreds of pounds, and their exit was blocked by very large gentlemen until the matter was settled with cash.

Sleazebags do exist everywhere, and I don't doubt that these guys you met were bad guys, but theres something a bit racist about saying you knew they were Nigerians because they were criminal types (or vice versa)

For some balance, here's an article from Japan Today, about the lot of being a Nigerian in Japan, and being assumed to be a criminal by everyone.
The other side of Tokyo's Nigerian community

Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2011 1:07 am

Yeah, I can understand how it came across as racist. The people on the streets told me that they were Nigerian, so I already knew who I was dealing with when I was trapped in their establishment. And yes, sleazebags exist everywhere... white, black, asian, etc.

I recall reading a warning about this exact scam on the US State Dept website in regards to Eastern European owned bars in Greece.

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