NARA -- A schoolgirl and her host colleagues have been arrested after their scam to beat and rob diminutive men fell short of its mark, police said Saturday.

The 16-year-old girl and her three 19-year-old cohorts - none of whom can be named under the Juvenile Law - were arrested for robbery resulting in injury after they allegedly used lonely hearts sites to lure men into their clutches, where they planned to beat and rob them.

Police said the group decided to rob short men in the belief that they would be easier to overcome in a fight. The schoolgirl posted messages on an Internet personals site, specifying that she would only meet with a short man. She received a reply from a man claiming to be 165 centimeters tall. They arranged to meet in a secluded part of Nara. When the man turned up, he was actually 10 centimeters taller than he claimed to be. This did not perturb the girl's cohorts, however, who set about beating him with bamboo staffs.

But the man fought back, grabbing one of the staffs and turning it on his attackers, who soon fled without getting any money. The man reported the incident to the police, who tracked down the schoolgirl and her host helpers. (Mainichi Shimbun, April 13, 2002)