Women who marry for money are a common type of antagonist in Akashi's and Tetsu's stories, although examples of both genders can be found in both Hikari's and Midoriko's stories. Therefore, this makes them a common target for the titular Trouble Busters. Moreover, insidious gold diggers might resort to harebrained schemes to marry their rich marks only to backfire when they turn out to not be so rich. Therefore, this warrants Trouble Busters a Gold Digger page.
Akashi's Episodes
- "My wife came in late and missed our daughter's wedding... She was late because..."
: Mami is revealed to be one when she came too late to her daughter Hikari's wedding for cheating on her husband Akashi with a man named Minamide on a trip to Atami. - "The CEO of my company was marrying my late wife...": Sally only married Alan for his money and dumped him when she found out his bank statement, arguing he fooled her since he worked for a venture company. What's more, she faked her death just to marry Alan's rich friend George, who is a CEO.
- "My wife left me for my CEO": Elen dumped Travis for his company's CEO. She initially did it because the man threatened to get Travis fired, but she fell in love upon dating him as he bought her expensive things. To make matters worse, the CEO was the jealous type and had Travis fired anyway. However, she begged his forgiveness when Travis and some of his coworkers filed a class action lawsuit against the CEO, but he rejects them.
- "My boss stole my wife and took my job from me…": Sheila cheated on her husband Adam with his boss Aiden. When he caught the lovebirds going to a love hotel, Aiden had him fired. When he came back from America with his new wife Lucy to attend Aiden and Sheila's wedding and revealed she is Aiden's daughter and that he's still married, Sheila chewed him out for tricking her.
- "My boss stole my wife and my clients, but I was actually investigating him undercover for the CEO": Alan's wife Erica divorces him to marry his boss Mr. Kobrofski after the bastard fired him under suspicions of fraud, with Erica herself backing up his lies. Moreover, Erica married Alan thinking he was an elite businessman until she found out the truth.
- "On the day of my wedding, my daughter came to me after my ex-wife died...": Mika's husband only married her for the insurance money she had. She knew about this and told her daughters Ichika and Nino to seek her ex-husband Akashi for help after her death, which led to the girls attending his wedding to Hikari. After Hikari took care of it with her lawyer Midoriko and adopted the girls, the man tried to rob a bank after finding out he won't have any penny from her only to get arrested.
- "My girlfriend dumped me because she hated my family's diner, but now I run a 5-star restaurant!": Layla dumped Alan after he introduced her to his family's shabby, rundown diner. While Alan convinced her to at least check out the restaurant, she reacted with disgust towards the clientele, deriding them as "peasants who don't know what good food tastes like" despite his attempts to convince her otherwise.
- "My fiancé chose this other guy over me, but he turned out to be a...": While Aaron did propose to Theresa, her father refused to give his blessing as he was a cleaner and therefore was unfit to support her. Moreover, he introduced her to her childhood friend, Ian, to change her mind as he claimed to be richer than Aaron. Unfortunately, Theresa dumps Aaron on the spot and sends him packing and crying. One year later, he finds a haggard, worn-out Theresa hiding; it turns out Ian was a stalker and lied to her father about being rich so he could have her all to himself. Moreover, his parents were also in on it because they found his behavior adorable.
- "My wife and her guy friend were making out at our wedding": Thalia is revealed to be this after being scolded and disowned by her parents upon learning from Alan that the man she cheated on him with, Clifford, was a married man. When she futilely pleads with Alan to rescind the alimony only for him to declare he's issuing a restraining order and leaving her crying that "[she] wanted to be happy with [his] money".
- "My stepmother k*lled my sick father so I got revenge by taking everything away from her": Sarah only married Alan's sickly father for his money and wanted him to die so she could have the inheritance money all to herself. Moreover, she badgered the poor man into signing the will so he'll give her the house and half of his money while leaving Alan with only savings. However, Alan takes revenge by tearing down his father's house. It turns out his father secretly left the house and assets to Alan; the will she had the poor guy sign had the date written with erasable ink.
- "I noticed the positions of household items had changed when I came home, so I set up a camera…": Alan's girlfriend, Karen, cheated on him in his house and plotted to sue him for alimony hoping her affair would amass her a handsome amount of money. When he found out in the security camera footage, he called over Karen's parents to hold her accountable.
Hikari's Episodes
- "My husband cheated on me with my little sister so I got revenge!": Melanie had affairs with Helen's rich husband Alan, threatening him with exposing his affair if he didn't buy her luxuries. However, Helen starts to become suspicious when his credit card bills skyrocketed and questioned him about his affairs only to be shut down. It turns out Melanie did this to get back at her for dating a boy she had a crush on since high school.
- "Husband goes on a trip with his lover while I was pregnant and sick": Kevin reveals to have married Helen just for the inheritance and the insurance money to propose to his lover Tammy when Alan helped her fake her and her baby's death. Much to his dismay, Helen, Alan, and Kevin's parents caught him red-handed.
Midoriko's Episodes
- "Coworker stole my boyfriend and had the audacity to invite me to their wedding but...": Andrea stole Melanie's fiancé Carter because he made $80,000 a year as an intern and would make $100K once he got out of the internship. To this effect, she got him drunk and took him to a hotel, and lied about being pregnant so he will dump Melanie and marry her instead.
- "Coworker tells me she is pregnant with my husband's child... who is dead...": Natalie stole Mary's husband, Aaron, because he was a successful, famous novelist and wanted to live off his money. Furthermore, she went towards Mary to claim she slept with him and became pregnant with his child to force her into a divorce and marry him.
- "My fiancé was cheating on me for several years and chose to dump me days before our wedding": Ted is a rare male example; he cheated on Melanie with another woman named Ria and told her to call off their wedding. Moreover, he revealed he only hung out with her for her money and didn't want to marry either her or Ria. After she ran off crying to her friends, they concocted a plan to expose the lovebirds.
Tetsu's Episodes
- "My family refused to go with me overseas and abandoned me with nothing, but 10 years later...": Thomas' wife, Abigail, abused him for not providing enough money for her liking and eventually divorce him, leaving a meager $1.32 in his bankbook and shamelessly admit to having cheated on him with a richer guy. After Thomas returns from his business trip to France with his fiancée, Lana, the now-destitute mother-daughter duo accuses her of being this in a last bid to get back with him, but Thomas rebuffs their accusations. It turns out Abby's current husband and lover quit his job as a chiropractor and became an alcoholic gambling addict, putting on a lot of weight after Thomas forced him to pay $20,000 in alimony. Moreover, their daughter, Marion, also married a good-looking man who turned out to be a recluse and suffered constant abuse from her in-laws.
Miscellaneous
- "I reunited with my ex-husband at an expensive sushi store...": Alice constantly picked on her husband Scott for being a construction worker and even urged him to cheat on her so her dad will let her divorce him. Moreover, she became a sugar baby after the divorce and even married Alan to scam him out of his money. When she found out Scott became successful, Alice dumped her current rich husband to remarry him, but Scott has none of her crap.
