He set up a sham Web site promising male escort jobs to those paying refugees, but the only date involved turned out to be his - behind bars, not in them.
The Mainichi Daily News says Hideki Fukuda was arrested for fraud after the scam caught some 2,500 people who paid out an estimated 15 million yen total. The university office worker is accused of swindling one Tokyo student out of 6,000 yen last April.
The paper says Fukuda apparently admitted to the crimes, telling police he needed the money to overcome financial trouble stemming from the Hanshin Earthquake in 1995.
He's accused of setting up a Web site last September calling for people to register as hosts who were willing to visit clients' homes, the News says.
