TOKYO: Consumers in Japan sought advice from authorities on fake celebrity advertisements for investment on social media in 1,629 cases in fiscal 2023, up nearly 10-fold from the previous year’s 170 cases, the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan said Tuesday.

In the year that ended in March, those fake ads victims lost 6.87 million yen on average, about three times 2.34 million yen the year before, with the biggest single loss standing at 170 million yen, the NCAC said, urging consumers not to trust social media ads soliciting investments.

In one case, a woman in her 60s paid 15 million yen in total, after she applied for an investment consultation with a prominent economist through a social media ad and was offered a “more profitable investment deal” by a person claiming to be the economist’s assistant. When she tried to withdraw gains later, she was told to pay 9 million yen in commission and 13 million yen in tax.

According to the National Police Agency, such fraudulent investment ads cases have been increasing since July last year, totaling as many as 1,700 cases only in the first three months of this year with some 22 billion yen stolen.

In a related development, billionaire entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa and fraud victims have sued Meta Platforms Inc., alleging the U.S. social media platform giant left fake ads intact.

On Tuesday, the Japanese government drew up comprehensive measures to cope with the problem, such as asking social media operators to strictly check ads in advance.

An NCAC official calls for “self-defense,” warning that those who ask for sending money to accounts using personal names are scammers.

JIJI Press