Second time’s the charm!

While the coronavirus continues to make its rounds, wealthy entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa has pledged to give away 100,000 yen (US$942) to 10 random Twitter followers every day. It’s money that a lot of people could use, and Mr. Sato is no different.

So the other day when Mr. Sato got a friend request from none other than “Yusaku Maezawaa” on Facebook, he decided to take the plunge, despite it not being Twitter nor the correct spelling of the billionaire’s name.

In the end, all he got was was a bunch of empty promises and an invitation to an illegal download site. However, just as soon as he walked away from that scam, Mr. Sato was approached by another person claiming to be Yusaku Maezawa.

Although already burned once, Mr. Sato was intrigued in that this person’s name was spelled correctly. What if this was the real deal this time? Our reporter couldn’t stand the thought of passing up money and accepted Yusaku Maezawa’s friend request one more time.

Right away he was given a message saying that he was one of only 500 lucky people who were selected for a free gift from Japan’s favorite moneybags. This all looked very familiar to Mr. Sato who was pretty sure he was a one-in-500 winner last time too. However, he was getting up there in years and couldn’t trust his memory like he used to.

Our reporter still wasn’t fully convinced and decided to grill this Yusaku to see if he was the real deal.

Mr. Sato: “Seriously?! Thank you Yusaku!”

Mr. Maezawa: “This is reality.”

Mr. Sato: “For real? Are you kidding?”

Mr. Maezawa: “Yes, this is true.”

Mr. Sato: “Eh? This means I can be given something?”

Mr. Maezawa: “You can.”

Mr. Sato: “I can? I can?”

Mr. Maezawa: “You can.”

Mr. Sato: “Really?! Seriously?! Are you serious, Yusaku?”

Mr. Maezawa: “Have you registered?”

Mr. Maezawa: “It is necessary to register to receive your prize.”

Mr. Sato: “Really?! I’m going to be given a prize? No way!”

Mr. Maezawa: “This is reality.”

Mr. Sato: “Seriously? All right! Thank you, Yusaku!”

Mr. Sato: “Thank you! Thank you! So, where do I gotta register what?”

Mr. Maezawa: [pastes URL]

Mr. Sato: “Thank you! Yusaku seriously thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”

Mr. Maezawa: “Sign up now.”

Mr. Sato: “HAHAHA! ‘Sign up now’ you sound just like a commercial. You’re all like ‘Sign up now and watch as many of your favorite movies as you like!’ Seriously funny! Seriously goddamn funny! You’re goddamn funny HAHAHA!”

Mr. Sato had pushed this person to the limits and he didn’t crack. However, whoever was on the other end didn’t seem to share our writer’s incredulous enthusiasm. It would seem that the real Maezawa would be a little more happy from brightening people’s days, but this person just came across as annoyed by Mr. Sato’s grateful exuberance.

With the results inconclusive, Mr. Sato decided to go ahead and click the link. Last time he received an offer for a free electronic greeting card, but this time was instructed to click a button for a “gift card” from someone calling themself “Yuzaku Maezawa.”

However, upon clicking that link, he was led to the exact same Geocities-looking webpage as before. Although the nostalgic Iayout was a little charming at first, this time around it just sickened Mr. Sato.

He knew exactly where the next link would lead, so he just muttered “jackass…” and closed the browser.

It was a bust, but just as he was unfriending “Yusaku Maezawa,” Mr. Sato received another request from “Gift Item Maezawa Yusaku.”

Could this finally be the real Yusaku Maezawa? I mean, they can’t all be fake, can they?

Photos: ©SoraNews24
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[ Read in Japanese ]