The National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan said Thursday it had received at least 8,617 consultations related to the novel coronavirus by the end of March. The center received no coronavirus-related consultations in December, but the number has since increased, reaching at least 6,271 in ...
Tax agency bureaus in Japan on high alert for rise in consumption tax fraud
Tax authorities are preparing to act against a possible increase in abuses of a rule that exempts export transactions from sales levies following October's consumption tax hike from 8 percent to 10 percent. The value-added tax is levied at each stage of distribution for goods ...
Ringleader in bogus Tokyo land sale slapped with 12-year sentence
The man considered the ringleader of a 2017 bogus Tokyo land sale plot that targeted home builder Sekisui House Ltd. was sentenced by the Tokyo District Court to 12 years in prison on Tuesday. Prosecutors had sought a 15-year prison term for Maiku Uchida, 66, ...
Fraudulent lenders on social media exploit virus crisis in Japan
Authorities are warning consumers about a growing number of fraudulent lenders who are attempting to use the ongoing COVID-19 crisis as an opportunity to prey on borrowers via social media. Most such scams apparently involve individual lenders who are not registered to provide such services. The ...
Japanese men detained in Manila over alleged ¥1.5 billion phone scam brought to Japan
Nine of 36 Japanese men detained in Manila over alleged phone scams were transported to Japan and arrested by Tokyo police on Monday. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department said Ryo Imaizumi, 27, and eight other men were members of a fraud syndicate that may have ...
Losses in Japan from cash card collection scams surged in 2019
Losses from cash card collection scams more than doubled in 2019 from the previous year, with swindlers posing as police officers or bank workers visiting victims' homes and tricking them into handing over their cards, a police report showed Thursday. The scams netted ¥5.21 billion ...
Moritomo Gakuen couple in Abe cronyism scandal found guilty of fraud
The former head of a nationalist school operator and his wife were found guilty of receiving ¥56.4 million in government subsidies illegally for the construction of an elementary school.
Nine arrested for illegally collecting money for food business Kefir
Nine people were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of illegally collecting money for a food product sales business run by a Tokyo-based mail-order service company that filed for bankruptcy in 2018, police said. Hideya Kaburaki, 84, former head of the company, Kefir Inc., and the eight ...
In fresh scandal for Toshiba, subsidiary found to have booked ¥43.5 billion in fictitious sales
Toshiba Corp. said Friday that a subsidiary booked fictitious sales of ¥43.5 billion in 26 transactions recorded only on paper. The scandal may again throw Toshiba into a crisis similar to its massive accounting fraud in 2015. The subsidiary in question is Toshiba IT-Services Corp. based ...
Kansai mother and son accused of no-show scam that cost hotels ¥115 million
A mother-and-son pair in the Kansai region arrested on suspicion of obstructing business at hotels allegedly cost accommodation facilities ¥115 million in damages after they made around 3,200 booking cancellations in one year, investigative sources said Wednesday. Yukiko Kishida, 51, and her son Yukihiro, 31, ...
Swindler Bernie Madoff asks for early release, claiming he's terminally ill
Bernard Madoff, who defrauded investors of more than $19 billion in history's biggest Ponzi scheme, has asked for early release from his 150-year prison sentence, claiming his health is failing. Madoff asked U.S. Circuit Judge Denny Chin to release him after serving just 10 years, ...
Netanyahu formally charged with graft after dropping immunity bid
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was Tuesday formally charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust, the justice ministry said, shortly after the embattled politician dropped his request for parliamentary immunity. The indictment came as Netanyahu was in Washington for a meeting with President Donald ...
