The number of victims of fake advertising by celebrities in Japan has increased tenfold, Consumers in Japan sought advice from authorities about fake celebrity advertisements for social media investments in 1,629 cases in the 2023 fiscal year, almost 10 times more than the 170 cases the previous year, the National Consumer Affairs Center said on Tuesday.
In the year ending in March, victims of fake ads lost an average of ยฅ6.87 million ($43,500), about three times ยฅ2.34 million the year before, with the largest loss at 170 million yen, the center said and urged consumers not to do so. rely on social media advertisements asking for investment.
In one case, a woman in her 60s paid a total of ยฅ15 million after she sought investment advice from a prominent economist through a social media advertisement and was offered a “more profitable investment deal” by an individual who claimed to own the company’s to be an economist. assistant. When she later tried to withdraw the winnings, she was told she would have to pay ยฅ9 million in commission and ยฅ13 million in taxes.
According to the National Police Corps, cases of fraudulent investment advertisements have increased since July last year, with a total of as many as 1,700 cases in the first three months of this year alone, with some 22 billion yen stolen.
In a related development, billionaire entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa and fraud victims have sued Meta Platforms, alleging that the US social media platform giant left fake ads intact.
On Tuesday, the government laid out extensive measures to tackle the problem, such as asking social media operators to strictly check advertisements in advance.
A center official calls for “self-defense” and warns that those asking to send money to accounts using personal names are scammers.
