TsukubaCityInformation
City of Science and Nature

There are a number of ways you can be tricked out of your money.

• Bait and Switch: You get a letter saying that you have won a prize and are invited to a private event to claim your prize. The organizers give you a small prize and then entice you into buying larger items.
• Inspection Sales: The salesperson comes to your door and offers to inspect something in your house. You are told that you have bugs in your futon or that one of your appliances is not operating properly. You are then asked to sign a contract for a new item or service.
• Telemarketing: You are offered special services or interest rates through a phone call.
• Unsolicited Goods: You are sent items for a "trial period" and then asked to pay for them.
• Con Job: You are asked to fill out a survey or are given free samples and then taken back to the store where you are coerced into signing a contract for services you don't necessarily want or need.
• Pyramid Schemes: A friend asks you to buy certain products and then tells you how to sell products to other people. You earn money for the people you sign up under you.
• Date Fraud: A person calls you up and pretends to want to date you while getting you to agree to sign contracts for products.
• Qualification Fraud: A person makes you sign contracts for courses in order to give you qualifications to get promotions.
• Fire Extinguisher Inspection: Recently there have been incidents of fraud in the city where a person poses as an inspector of fire extinguishers. The fraudulent inspector pretends to be a company's regular inspector and asks the company to sign a contract. The inspector then takes the extinguishers and then demands money from the company for their return. In order to protect yourself from this kind of fraud, be sure not to ever sign any contracts without reading them carefully first.

These con artists target young people who don't have a great deal of experience in the business world. If you sign a contract like any of these, you can legally cancel it within 8 days with no reason (called "cooling off period" -- applies to Bait and Switch, Inspection Sales, and Telemarking). You can cancel your participation in a pyramid scheme within 20 days. Also, if you are sent unsolicited goods (newspapers, magazines, etc.) you are legally required to keep them for 14 days. After that, you can throw them out. (Make sure that they are truly unsolicited -- and not actually ordered by someone in your household.)

Certain fraud techniques prey on elderly people who do not fully understand the concept of credit, or who are susceptible to slick selling techniques. In some cases, it may be possible to void contracts that are made by elderly people who are deemed unable to manage their own financial assets, but it is generally necessary to have medical proof of incompetence. These kinds of cases can be quite difficult, so it is necessary to deal with them as soon as they are discovered.

Fraudulent Notices

A fraudulent notice is being delivered by postcard to various people. The postcard is in Japanese and it claims that you must contact a certain company that wants to confirm your personal information. It says that you could be sued if you don't contact the company. The company purports to be authorized by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. If you get this postcard, please ignore it and discard it. (Send inquiries to 029-883-1111.) Do not attempt to contact the company.

Topics: Advice
Relevant for: Residents

Please note: While all efforts have been made to offer accurate and up-to-date information on this site, the information is presented as a guideline and is subject to change without notification. Phone numbers, addresses, and/or policies may have changed since this page was created. Please contact the appropriate section of the City Hall for confirmation of information and city policies.