Police issue warning over home improvement scams
A series of home improvement scams — in which a 'contractor' will say a house is badly in need of repairs, even if it's not, then pocket the renovation payments — have been exposed.
Many crime groups involved in such scams have been found to target elderly people living in houses.
The scams 'have many things in common with special fraud, including their targets and methods,' said a senior investigative officer. Special fraud, as it's known, refers to a crime in which fraudsters impersonate relatives or public agency officials over the phone to defraud victims of their money.
Tokyo police have arrested a number of suspects this month in connection with home improvement scams, including Kaneyuki Shimizu, a 49-year-old man who goes by the nickname 'Super Salaryman,' and 35-year-old Tatsumi Saito, who is in effect the head of a loosely organized crime group called Uchikoshi Specter.
Police believe both Shimizu and Saito have led different quasi-gangster groups known as tokuryū.
Shimizu is suspected of effectively managing a number of renovation businesses that engaged in fraud, according to those involved in the investigation.
Among those arrested by Tokyo police this month is 'Super Salaryman' Kaneyuki Shimizu, seen here in this screenshot of his Instagram account, who is suspected of effectively managing a number of renovation businesses that engaged in fraud. |
Jiji
The companies generated some ¥10 billion ($67.2 million) in total sales over five years as he took measures to incite competition among them, such as promoting employees based on the number of high-priced illegal contracts they could complete.
Living in a high-rise condominium in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward, Shimizu's postings on Instagram featuring stacks of money and a Lamborghini boasted the life of excess he led.
'He has been seen as a charismatic figure in the industry,' said the investigative officer, adding that Shimizu had employed as many as 150 people, the majority of whom had apparently been attracted to his social media posts.
As for the group led by Saito, the officer points out that there are many cases in which the people around him had been accused of being involved in special fraud.
For example, last July, a company called Sanyo that was effectively run by Saito was accused of a home improvement scam, and four employees were arrested and found guilty for their involvement in the scam. Of the four, two people who were also serving leadership positions in Uchikoshi Specter were rearrested on suspicion of being involved in special fraud.
In another home improvement scam case from 2021, Tokyo police confiscated a roster of elderly people's names, a list often also used by groups involved in special fraud.
'Special fraud groups and home improvement scammers both target elderly people over the phone and seem to have an affinity for one another,' said the investigative officer.
Translated by The Japan Times
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