Tokyo: A 38-year-old man from Nagoya, Japan, exploited loopholes in the food delivery platform Demae-can to obtain hundreds of free meals by repeatedly abusing its refund policy, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported. The platform reportedly suffered losses exceeding 3.7 million yen (US$24,000).

The suspect, identified as Takuya Higashimoto, allegedly placed orders through the app and then falsely claimed non-delivery, even after receiving the food, to secure refunds for 1,095 orders over two years.

According to the report, Higashimoto, who has been unemployed for several years, often ordered high-priced items such as eel bento, hamburger steaks and ice cream.

Investigators found that he managed 124 fake accounts on Demae-can, registered under false names and incorrect addresses to avoid detection. He is said to have purchased prepaid mobile phone cards with fake credentials and cancelled them shortly after use.

On July 30, he reportedly created yet another fake account to order ice cream, bento and chicken steaks. Although the order was successfully delivered, he claimed via the app’s chat feature that the food had not arrived, receiving a refund of 16,000 yen (US$105) the same day.

Higashimoto later told police, “At first, I just tried this trick. I couldn’t stop after reaping the rewards of my fraud.”

Following the incident, Demae-can said it would strengthen identity verification measures and introduce an alert system to detect abnormal transactions.

The case has since gone viral on Japanese social media, with many users criticising the platform’s lax refund policy. “The platform’s refund system needs improvement; it’s far too lenient with customers,” one user wrote. Another commented, “He is quite clever. I have to admit he was diligent enough to create so many accounts and manipulate the system.”