Celebrities are constantly promoting themselves on social media. Scammers take advantage of nondescript social media users with fake ads that look like their celebrity role models are running them on their own.
“It’s unfortunate and sad. Frankly, I’m pissed off. Enough is enough.”
These were the first words 48-year-old Yusaku Maezawa spoke to Japanese national television NHK in a recent interview.
Maezawa is a Japanese billionaire entrepreneur, art collector and founder of Japan’s largest online fashion retail website Zozotown.
He is one of the many celebrities scammers use for their own gain. A trend of fake ads that scammers spread posing as raving celebrities like Maezawa spurred him into action as more and more victims came forward.
Fake ads using Maezawa’s image and name went viral on Facebook and Instagram. Since last August, at least 700 such ads have gone viral on social media and continue to circulate today.
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Maezawa raised concerns about the unauthorized use of his face images and name to Meta, operator of the two social media platforms where the fake ads were distributed.
The company responded that it was trying to eliminate false ads, while asking Maezawa to understand that solving all problems is difficult. Maezawa criticized this response.
“No no no. Delete what I say. Right in front of my eyes there are people being scammed using my photo, robbing them of millions, tens of millions of yen. Why doesn’t Meta check every ad to eliminate fake ads?! I cannot accept this.”
To take matters into their own hands
Maezawa’s legal team sent documents to Meta demanding that the operator delete the fake ads in June last year.
Meta has yet to take down the posts, prompting Maezawa’s lawyers to prepare to file a lawsuit in the US. Asahi Shimbun reports.
Last year, Maezawa launched a dedicated team to fight copycat ads.
This March, the team opened a consulting office. Its hotline received more than 180 reports of damage caused by false ads in just 10 days.
All the damage reported to Maezawa’s team amounted to about ¥20 billion ($129,688,000).
The Metropolitan Police Department recorded about ¥27.79 billion ($180,087,537) in 2023 in damages among 2,271 known fraud victims.
One person claimed to have lost over ¥100 million ($648,385) and filed a police report.
Maezawa’s counseling office has received claims from fraud victims whose ordeals resulted from fake ads impersonating other celebrities.
The list of imitations includes: Naomi Osaka26, Japanese professional tennis player; Hiroshi Mikitani59, founder and CEO of Rakuten; Hiroyuki Nishimura47, Japanese entrepreneur, founder of Japan’s most popular message board 2channel; Takafumi Horie51, Japanese entrepreneur who founded Livedoor; Yoshiaki Murakami64, Japanese investor, former bureaucrat and co-founder of the Murakami Fund; Takuro Morinaga66, Japanese economist; Atsuhiko Nakata41, Japanese comedian; Hiroto Kiritani74, Professional shogi player; Akira Ikegami, 73, Japanese journalist and writer; and Hiroyuki Kishi61, Japanese professor, entrepreneur and former bureaucrat.
The evolution of fraud in Japan
The new attack vector represents an evolution of fraud in Japan. For years, the country has struggled with the so-called “ore-ore” (オレオレ詐欺; ore-ore sagi) scam, in which fraudsters pose as someone’s son and swindle elderly pensioners out of millions of yen.
In recent years, thieves have turned to recruiting workers – usually young people desperate for cash – from online social media sites. In many cases, criminal organizations force people to work under them through threats and intimidation.
How scams work
NHK interviewed a man in his seventies who claimed fraudsters took ¥8 million ($51,856) from him after he clicked on a fake ad on Instagram.
The ad read “implementing Takuro Morinaga’s investment advice.” Clicking on the ad led to a friend request on the Japanese messaging app LINE. The LINE account user impersonated Morinaga, even revealing family matters to gain the victim’s trust. The impersonator said he was “bad at SNS” and introduced the man to his personal assistant, who in turn messaged the victim every day.
“It felt like man-to-man support. I was suspicious at first. But after 3 months of correspondence, I started to feel that everything was fine,” he told NHK.
Fraudsters duped the man into investing 2 million yen ($12,962) in a new energy vehicle business. They told him to make the investment made through an app recommended by the “assistant”.
The guy was able to check his stock on the app every day and was happy to see it increase in value until 3 months later when he wanted to sell it for a profit. He was refused to sell his shares because “it would be taxed” or that “it would cost processing fees”. He was even told that “he has to pay more because his investment is too small.” Then he realizes that he might be tricked.
Unfortunately, this feeling came too late. At this point, he has already “invested” 8 million yen.
Sources
Why doesn’t it go away? When you click on a celebrity impersonation ad on SNS… NHK
