Snapshot of the Recent Case
In early 2024, a criminal group in Osaka’s Minami district forged ownership documents for three landmark buildings that “never go on sale.”
Using fake seal-registration certificates and altered corporate records, the ringleaders posed as the legitimate owners and convinced two foreign-run companies to pay ≈ ¥1.45 billion (US $9 million) in cash.
The real owners discovered the fraud only after tenants found their locks suddenly changed.
Why This Matters to Overseas Investors
- Prime assets are prime targets. High-traffic areas such as Osaka Minami, Kyoto and central Tokyo command eye-watering prices and generate intense bidding wars. Scammers exploit the urgency.
- Sophisticated forgeries. Fake resident records, driver’s licences, seal certificates and company registries can look authentic—even to seasoned professionals.
- Cash deals attract crooks. Criminals prefer buyers willing to pay large sums quickly, especially in cash or overseas transfers that are harder to trace.
- Cross-border complexity. Language gaps, unfamiliar legal procedures and cultural deference can make foreign buyers less likely to challenge suspicious paperwork or delays.
Red Flags to Watch For
| ✅ What You Should See in a Normal Deal | ❌ Red Flags / Warning Signs |
|---|---|
| Verify the land register and any corporate registry changes in person at the Legal Affairs Bureau, and have the seller show original resident record and seal-registration certificates. | Seller offers only scanned copies and insists “there’s no need to go to the Legal Affairs Bureau.” |
| Check the broker’s license number on the Ministry of Land or prefectural web database before proceeding. | Intermediary won’t disclose a license number, saying “it’s a private sale, so no license is necessary.” |
| Pay a deposit of roughly 20 percent or less; wire the remaining balance by bank transfer on the closing day — escrow or a trust account is optional but safer. | Seller demands the entire amount in cash (or a single overseas transfer) immediately upon signing. |
| Receive an “Explanation of Important Matters” face-to-face (or via live video) from the licensed broker before signing. | Broker tries to skip or replace the Explanation of Important Matters with a cursory written handout only. |
Practical Safeguards
- Always hire a local attorney and a licensed shiho-shoshi (judicial scrivener). They attend closing, confirm that your funds have arrived, and immediately file the transfer with the Legal Affairs Bureau.
- Use an escrow or trust account whenever possible. Most domestic deals still settle by same-day bank transfer, but escrow services (e.g., trust accounts operated by EAJ or H’OURS) offer extra protection and are becoming more common.
- Check the seller’s resident record and seal certificate in original form—not scans—directly obtained from the city hall within the last three months.
- Ask for the most recent fixed-asset-tax notice or tax certificate to confirm the seller’s name and address match the registry.
- Conduct an on-site walkthrough with the current tenants or management company and make sure they are aware of—or at least have been notified about—the pending sale.
- Allow time for due diligence. Even prime locations typically need weeks for title searches, loan approvals, and scheduling a joint closing with all parties. If someone pushes for a same-day, full-cash deal, walk away.
If You Suspect Fraud in a Japanese Property Deal
- Assess the urgency. If you are in immediate danger or the fraud is unfolding live, dial 110. Otherwise call the nationwide police advice line #9110 for guidance.
- Verify the title in person at the Legal Affairs Bureau and request a correction or provisional registration freeze (tōki teppai) if needed.
- Consult a licensed real-estate attorney or judicial scrivener and notify the relevant Prefectural Real-Estate Division or local takken (broker) association.
- Keep every original document, email, and call log. Take high-resolution photos of seals and certificates before handing them to anyone.
- Limit communication with the suspected scammers until law-enforcement or your lawyer advises otherwise.
- Foreign nationals: Your embassy or consulate can help with interpreters and lawyer referrals but cannot intervene in domestic procedures.
Buying real estate in Japan can be an excellent investment, but only when proper due-diligence steps are followed. Stay vigilant, verify every document, and consult qualified Japanese professionals before signing—or paying—anything.
News related to property scam
Hiroshi Fukuda, an executive at a company based in Higashi-Osaka, was arrested on suspicion of swindling more than ¥1.4 billion (about US $9 million) in a land transaction between February and March last year. The scheme is what Japan calls a jimenshi (“land-shark”) fraud: crooks pose as the owners of someone else’s property and pocket the sale proceeds.
The stage for the crime was a street roughly a ten-minute walk from Namba Station—dense with office buildings and restaurants, right in the heart of Osaka’s Minami district. The properties involved were three buildings that insiders say never hit the market. “Everyone around here knows they simply aren’t for sale,” said a nearby worker. “It’s been that way for nearly ten years.”
How, then, did the scammers convince buyers that untouchable land was suddenly available? Reporting has revealed a meticulously organized operation. Fukuda acted as the ringleader, while the others arrested served as the on-the-ground team. Using forged seal-registration certificates and other falsified documents, they filed bogus title changes and impersonated the real estate–holding company’s representative. A woman in her 60s is alleged to have assisted with the fraudulent paperwork.
To understand the mechanics, reporters spoke with the man who manages the buildings for the legitimate owner. In March last year a tenant called him, unable to unlock the front door. When he arrived, all three entrances had new locks—and a man speaking Chinese emerged, claiming, “We bought the buildings, so of course we changed the locks.” The manager checked with the owner at once: the properties had not been sold. Yet the stranger insisted he had purchased them outright for “about 1.4 or 1.5 billion yen, all in cash.”
The manager—unfamiliar with the term jimenshi—was stunned. Investigators say one duped buyer was a company headed by a Chinese national and the other by another foreign national; together they paid roughly ¥1.45 billion, almost entirely in cash.
A storyline worthy of a TV drama has become grim reality. A real-estate appraisal expert points to Osaka’s surging land prices as fertile ground for such scams. “Nothing ever comes on the market in that area. Prices are whatever someone will pay. When word spreads that a big property is moving, people of uncertain background—maybe organized crime, maybe just gray-zone actors—move in fast.” He adds that inbound tourism is another driver: “Foreign investors focus on Minami first. Three buildings there? That never happens. Cash-rich buyers from China and elsewhere in Asia, or investment funds, would rush to grab them.”
In the studio, a former senior police official—once head of the Hyogo Prefectural Police Criminal Affairs Bureau—explained that while jimenshi scams first appeared in the chaotic post-war years, the techniques remain a classic form of real-estate fraud.
Many observers are shocked that losses of this scale still occur. A typical land-shark playbook looks like this:
Illegally obtain the true owner’s resident record (jūminhyō).
Use that data to forge a driver’s license.
Unilaterally change the owner’s registered seal (inkan).
Alter the company registry and install the impostor as the firm’s representative.
What makes the scheme frightening is how it moves from stealing a resident record all the way to altering seal registration and corporate filings.
Because illegal resident-record acquisition surfaces in many frauds, the thought that “someone might have obtained my record and is impersonating me” is genuinely alarming. Years ago policymakers debated countermeasures—such as notifying citizens whenever a third party obtains their resident record, or marking the certificate itself to show it was issued to someone other than the person named.
Key questions now facing investigators are: Where did the ¥1.4 billion in cash go? And was there a higher-level mastermind behind Fukuda’s group? Tracing the money and mapping the organization are crucial.
Experts warn that similar scams could proliferate. With land prices bubbling in Osaka’s Minami and with demand for hotel sites in destinations crowded with foreign tourists—Kyoto, for instance—large, rare parcels are magnets for fraud. For now, the public and police alike are waiting to learn where the missing ¥1.4 billion has ended up and who else might be involved.