Kissing Bandits: Japanese Police Nab Flirty Chinese Women That Robbed Drunk Men For $2.6 Million

Japanese police say that they may have brought to an end a flirty crime spree that helped bilk drunk men of roughly $2.6 million. The culprits: two Chinese women that betrayed their victims with a kiss.

The South China Morning Post carried on Wednesday a story that Japanese police had arrested two Chinese women that were part of a gang that relied on kisses as a distraction while they robbed drunk men at ATMs. The two suspects are as yet unidentified, and they appeared on television covering their faces while they were escorted to police vehicles. The only information police have released on the two “kissing bandits” is that they are from China and aged 27 and 30.

The women reportedly worked in tandem. Their scheme: one of the women would approach a drunken mark while he used an ATM machine. She would then lay a big wet one on the target, distracting him while her accomplice went through his wallet or withdrew money from the still-active ATM.

The women are currently being questioned for their alleged roles in just such a scenario, with a 49-year-old office worker saying that they approached him at a convenience store ATM in Tokyo’s Ueno district. The pair allegedly took that victim for 200,000 yen – about $1,730 – that he had just withdrawn from the machine.

The pair didn’t let him off the hook that easily, though. Later in the day, the pair allegedly withdrew another one million yen – $8,650 – from his account at another ATM.

How did they get away with it? The victim says he had been drinking heavily before the women approached him. He also says he has no recollection of the money being taken.

The two kissing bandits are believed to be part of a criminal group that has pulled the same scheme on more than 850 men in and around Tokyo since 2012. Their total haul: 300 million yen, or about $2.6 million.

[Lead image via Fairfax Regional.]