Japan - Fraud alert related to charity and other deceptive trade practices after 2011 Tohoku-Pacific Ocean Earthquake disaster

Charity frauds, pretending to be from some social welfare associations or public institutions, have been reported since the Japan earthquake disaster. The Consumer Affairs Agency and the National Consumer Affairs Centre of Japan have issued alerts to consumers regarding the quakes charity frauds and other deceptive trade practices.

1. Charity Fraud

The following cases have been reported:

• A scammer, pretending to be from a social welfare related association, phoned to some consumers, saying that he/she would visit to collect donation for victims of the quakes.
• A scammer, pretending to be a municipal office staff, phoned to some consumer and asked the consumer to transfer money to a charity.
• A scammer approached to a consumer by telephone saying: "Crab is being sold at half price now, and part of sale amount will be donated to a charity".
• Scam email, which contains message to collect donation, however, led to a link to a pornographic site.

Advice for consumers

• Consumer should directly check with the public institution whether the charity is legitimate one. Public institutions don't contact individuals to ask for charity by phone, etc.
• Check the purpose and activities of an institution asking for donations before you make a donation.
• Don't remit a bank account without checking the account holder and the charity institution.

2. Opportunistic deceptive trade practices

The following cases have been reported:

• Unsolicited visitor came home and checked damaged roof tiles, which were caused by the quakes, without any written contract. Then the visitor charged expensive fee for the service.
• A scammer, pretending to be from a minicipal office, approached to a consumer by telephone, and said: "We have been collecting any usable items for recycling. Please provide something to us".
• A consumer received a telephone call from a stranger, who seemed to be from a long distance place, and he/she offered bottles of drinking water. The consumer ordered some and paid, but could not receive any bottles and response.

3. Settlement of consultative phone number for fraud related to the quakes

Due to the quakes, the local consumer affair centres in disaster area are closed. Therefore, a special consultative telephone number for scams related to the quakes is established at 10.00am on March 27th. Consumers who are disaster victims should phone the special phone number.