Japan police target influencer impersonation scams and illegal investment ads

Japanese authorities re‑arrested 13 men, including company executive Shingo Matsumura, for buying influencer accounts and using them to defraud roughly ¥6.5 billion from about 2,300 victims. The group posted false claims such as “earned ¥5.5 million in nine months,” sold dubious information products, and extracted roughly ¥1 million per victim from three women in Shizuoka Prefecture.

The police agency also announced a new policy to label advertisements that falsely cite “celebrities” or “investors” as illegal information. Under the plan, site operators and providers will be asked to remove such ads, as well as solicitations for “remittance‑bounty” jobs, following an update to the anti‑money‑laundering law. The agency reported that special fraud, including social‑media investment and romance scams, caused a record loss of about ¥320 billion last year, with investment‑related scams alone costing ¥1,288 billion.