Female high school teacher accused of cheating older man of 7 million yen

This is a cautionary tale with a simple moral: if you a woman 20 years younger than you via a dating app, the chances are that she’s not really into you (or at least, not solely into you because of, well, you).

A high school teacher has been arrested for fraud by police in Tokyo after she allegedly faked documents to extract a large amount of money from an older man she was dating.

Narumi Ohira worked as a home economics teacher at an elementary school, where she was popular with students, and was halfway through the academic year at her current school, but students won’t be taking her classes this semester.

She was arrested by police in Tokyo on August 28, according to media reports this week.

The 30-year-old resident of Koto ward in east Tokyo is accused of fraud and forging official documents to get ¥7 million from a man in his fifties.

She apparently met the man via a dating app around three years ago. They would usually meet twice a money or so for dinner, during which time the man would give her several thousand yen.

The app is not named but there are ones specifically for adultery or for sugar daddy relationships, so this kind of compensated dating relationship is not uncommon. We can presume that they were also having sex after these dinner dates.

In February, she sent the man a message that said she was involved in a lawsuit due to an issue at work and needed money for the settlement.

The unnamed man was savvy enough to ask for proof. The pair met on March 23 in the lounge of a hotel in Minato ward, Tokyo, where she showed him a copy of the lawsuit settlement document and allegedly persuaded the man to hand over ¥7 million in cash.

Ohira has told police: “Yes, I handed over a copy of the settlement agreement and borrowed the money. But the victim told me that I didn’t have to pay it back, so I was under the impression that I didn’t have to do so.”

However, the pair did exchange an IOU, though Ohira did not actually live at the address she wrote on the document.

After he worked this out, the man grew suspicious and double-checked the settlement, discovering that the lawsuit case number did not exist.

He went to police in late March and filed a damage report in May, which led to the arrest in late August.

According to media reports, there was indeed a lawsuit but it was not related to work. Rather, it was caused by trouble in Ohira’s private life.

She had apparently been receiving money from lots of men she met through a dating app and one of them sued her to get the money back. She lost the lawsuit.

The head of the high school in Koto ward where she is employed commented: “I learned about the incident through the news. As the investigation is currently ongoing, I cannot comment on the details. I regret that a teacher at our school was arrested, and although it was a private matter, it is a lack of ethics. We will further strengthen teacher education and work to prevent recurrence.”

Another person from Ohira’s current school said: “She was appointed in April of this year and was in charge of home economics classes. I haven’t heard of any particular problems or anything like that. The opening ceremony was on September 1, and the school informed the students about her arrest.”

At the elementary school where she worked until March, Ohira taught fifth and sixth graders and was known as a friendly teacher who never got angry.

Until around two weeks ago, she apparently lived in an apartment in the ward where rent was about ¥100,000 a month.

According to a news report, the mail that had arrived included an example of “high-class food ingredients.” Make of that what you will.

Netizens have identified Ohira as a TikToker called Herako (ヘラ子), whose videos about skincare and beauty products have accumulated hundreds of thousands, and even millions of views. This claim is not verified.