Japanese man, 38, made over 1,000 food delivery orders in 2 years, got refunds by claiming they didn't arrive

Japanese police arrested a 38-year-old man on Oct. 2 on suspicion of scamming a food delivery service firm.

The Japan Times reported that Takuya Higashimoto, a resident of Nagoya, was arrested in Aichi prefecture.

Higashimoto allegedly got refunds from the food delivery company by falsely claiming that the food he ordered did not arrive.

He is reportedly unemployed, according to Asahi Shimbun.

Modus operandi

He was suspected to have first registered with delivery application Demae-can using a false name and address on Jul. 30, 2025.

Jiji Press reported that although his order of ice cream, bentos and chicken steaks, among others, were delivered, Higashimoto then allegedly used the application's chat function to state that they did not arrive.

This supposedly allowed him to receive refunds worth around 16,000 yen (S$135) on that day.

Since April 2023, Higashimoto has allegedly placed about 1,095 fraudulent orders with Demae-can, reported Japan Times.

He did so by allegedly signing up and then cancelling his membership for the service once or twice a week.

The Aichi prefectural police department said this supposedly allowed him to avoid payments amounting to a total of 3.7 million yen (S$31,339) in the past two years.

He had also created 124 different accounts in that span of time, Asahi Shimbun wrote.

In addition, the police said Higashimoto reportedly told police investigators that he committed the crime many times after succeeding once, including with other delivery services.

Top photos via Canva