Authorities in Nagoya arrested Takuya Higashimoto earlier this month on suspicion of ordering 1,095 meals through an app called Demae-can and securing refunds by falsely claiming non-delivery, according to reports from the South China Morning Post, the Japan Times, and The Economic Times. Police said he exploited the app’s refund policy by choosing contactless delivery, receiving the food, and then reporting that it never arrived. According to The Economic Times the overall price of the orders ammounted to more than 3.7 million yen, or about 24,000 US dollars, over two years.
Investigators said Higashimoto, a 38-year-old unemployed man from Nagoya, operated in a systematic manner using 124 accounts since April 2023, many opened with prepaid SIM cards, fake names, and incorrect addresses. He often closed accounts shortly after receiving refunds. Items he ordered included higher-priced options of bento boxes, chicken steaks, box eel, hamburger steak, and ice cream.
On July 30, he opened a new account under a false name and address, ordered ice cream and chicken steak worth 16,000 yen, and received a same-day refund after claiming non-delivery. “At first, I just tried this trick. I couldn’t stop after reaping the rewards of my fraud,” said Higashimoto.
Demae-can said it would strengthen user identity verification, add alerts for unusual transactions, and develop an algorithm to analyze non-delivery complaints. A company representative said it would review the entire refund mechanism to prevent abuse, CafeF reported.
The case drew widespread reaction in Japan and China, with many social media users calling the app’s refund policy too loose and urging revisions, “It’s clear that the guy is quite clever. Opening so many accounts and deceiving the system like this is a task in itself,” one user said. “Maybe the app’s refund policy needs a reality check too,” another user said. Some commenters argued that his ingenuity would have been better used legally, according to Lokmat.
Similar frauds surfaced in China, where three residents of Jiangsu Province in 2024 took turns ordering on a major food delivery app and claimed non-delivery to secure refunds, The Economic Times reported. Last year, three people in Jiangsu lived for a month spending only 19 yuan by repeatedly claiming undelivered items; local police later punished them, Kompas and Cumhuriyet reported.
Produced with the assistance of a news-analysis system.