Celebrities are constantly promoting themselves on social media. Scammers are abusing unassuming social media users with fake ads that look as if they were put out by celebrity role models themselves.
“It's unfortunate and sad. Honestly, I'm angry. Get your act together.”
Those were the first words Yusaku Maezawa (48) spoke to Japanese national television. Japan Broadcasting Corporation In a recent interview.
Mr. Maezawa is a Japanese billionaire entrepreneur, art collector, and founder of Japan's largest online fashion retail site, Zozotown.
He is one of many celebrities that scammers are using for their own benefit. Maezawa was inspired to take action after a wave of victims emerged from an epidemic of fake advertisements distributed by scammers pretending to be celebrity idols such as Maezawa.
Fake advertisements using Maezawa's image and name were spread on Facebook and Instagram. At least 700 such ads have circulated on social media since August last year and are still in circulation.
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Mr. Maezawa expressed concern that his facial image and name were used without permission by Meta, which operates two social media platforms where false advertisements were spread.
The company replied, “We are working hard to remove false advertisements,” and asked Maezawa to understand that it would be difficult to resolve all problems. Mr. Maezawa criticized this response.
“No, no, no. What I'm saying is, delete it. People who are being scammed out of millions or tens of millions of yen by using my photos right in front of me. Why doesn't Meta check all ads and eliminate fake ads?! I can't accept this.
take matters into your own hands
Maezawa's legal team sent a letter to Meta in June last year requesting that the false advertisement be removed.
Mehta has not yet deleted the post, and Maezawa's lawyers are preparing to file a lawsuit in the United States. Asahi Shimbun I will report it.
Last year, Maezawa set up a specialized team to combat spoofed advertising.
A consultation desk was opened in March this year. The hotline received over 180 reports of false advertising in just 10 days.
The damages reported to Maezawa's team totaled approximately 20 billion yen ($129,688,000).
The Metropolitan Police Department recorded that of the 2,271 known fraud victims, the amount of damage in 2023 was approximately 27.79 billion yen ($180,087,537).
One individual filed a police report claiming to have lost more than 100 million yen ($648,385).
Maezawa's counseling office receives complaints from victims of fraud who have suffered hardships due to false advertisements impersonating other celebrities.
The list of impersonators includes: Naomi Osaka26 years old, Japanese professional tennis player. Hiroshi Mikitani59 years old, founder and CEO of Rakuten. Hiroyuki Nishimura47 years old, Japanese entrepreneur and founder of Japan's most visited bulletin board channel 2. Takafumi Horie51 years old, Japanese entrepreneur who founded Livedoor. Yoshiaki Murakami64 years old, Japanese investor, former bureaucrat, and co-founder of the Murakami Fund. Takuro Morinaga66 years old, Japanese economist. Atsuhiko Nakata41 years old, Japanese comedian. Hiroto Kiritani74 years old, professional shogi player. Akira Ikegami, 73 years old, Japanese journalist and author.and Hiroyuki Kishi61 years old, Japanese professor, entrepreneur, and former bureaucrat.
Evolution of fraud in Japan
The new attack vector represents the evolution of fraud in Japan. For years, the country has been battling so-called “ole-ole” fraud, in which fraudsters pretend to be someone's son and scam elderly retirees out of millions of yen.
In recent years, thieves have shifted to recruiting workers, usually cash-strapped young people, from online social media sites. Criminal organizations often keep people working for them through intimidation and intimidation.
Fraud techniques
NHK interviewed a man in his 70s who claims he was scammed out of 8 million yen ($51,856) by a scammer after clicking on a fake ad on Instagram.
The advertisement said, “Put on Takuro Morinaga's investment advice.'' Clicking on the ad resulted in a friend request on the Japanese messaging app LINE. The user of the LINE account pretended to be Morinaga and even opened up about his family in order to gain the victim's trust. The identity thief said he was “not good at social media” and introduced the man to his personal assistant, who sent messages to the victim every day.
“It was more like one-on-one support. At first I was skeptical. But after three months of correspondence, I started to feel okay,” he told NHK.
The scammers tricked the man into investing 2 million yen ($12,962) in a new energy vehicle business. They told him to invest through an app recommended by an “assistant.”
The man was able to check his stocks daily on the app and was happy to see their value rising, but after three months he asked to sell them for a profit. He was refused the opportunity to sell his shares on the grounds that “taxes would be required'' and “fees would be charged.'' I was once told, “I invested too little, so I have to pay more.” That's when he realized he might have been fooled.
Sadly, that intuition came too late. At this point, he had already invested 8 million yen.
source of information
When you click on an advertisement that impersonates a social media celebrity…Japan Broadcasting Corporation
