12-08-2025
Fed Up Of Humiliation, Crushing Debt? ‘100% Legal' Firms Can Make You Vanish, Erase Your Identity
Once moved, clients are often relocated to cities like Tokyo or Osaka, where it is easier to remain unnoticed.
In Japan, disappearing from your life is not just possible, it is a service you can hire. For a fee, certain companies will quietly move you out of your home and help you start again somewhere new.
According to the Los Angeles Times, these companies are known as yonigeya or 'fly-by-night movers." They work with people facing desperate situations like domestic abuse or crushing debt. Clients often arrive saying, 'You are my last hope" or 'I may be dead tomorrow."
A recent Instagram post about the practice claimed that more than a lakh people vanish this way every year.
How The Process Works
As per the report, the first step is usually a phone call to discuss the case and the cost, which can range from $2,000 to $20,000 (approximately Rs 1.7 lakh to Rs 17.5 lakh), depending on how far and how risky the move will be. This is followed by a face-to-face meeting where the team examines the client's home, neighbourhood and any threats they may be facing.
Planning the escape can take about a week to ten days. During this time, the yonigeya study the risks, decide the safest time to act and prepare every step so the move can be done without drawing attention.
Hiroyuki Ono from the firm Agent Express prefers late-night operations because debt collectors are not legally allowed to contact people after 8 PM, the report mentioned. Others choose late mornings when neighbours are out shopping and there are more distractions.
How The Move Unfolds
In the several days before the move, small items are discreetly removed in backpacks or small bags and stored elsewhere, which leaves the larger furniture behind. Sometimes, yonigeya disguise themselves as secondhand shop workers 'buying" used furniture or as department store staff collecting boxes marked 'returned item."
On the appointed day, the family follows a normal routine. At the prearranged time, the father leaves on a fabricated sales call, the mother goes 'shopping", and the children are taken from school for a 'doctor's appointment."
Once it is safe, the team moves in. Boxes are packed within minutes, furniture is loaded into vans, and someone outside keeps watch for anyone following. If it is too late to stop the move, agents may block anyone who tries to interfere and a spare car is kept ready to slow down pursuers.
But What If The Person Being Avoided Is Inside The House?
Sometimes the person to be avoided is still inside the home. Yusuke Matsuura, president of Support Japan, once helped a domestic violence victim escape her unemployed, heavy-drinking husband, who rarely left the house.
As per the report, one night, she got him drunk until he passed out, then called Matsuura. Within 30 minutes, they had removed her and all her belongings.
Sometimes, a person is being watched all the time. Matsuura recalls helping a factory owner who owed $1 million to loan sharks. With the house under round-the-clock surveillance, his team arrived posing as rival gangsters and claimed that the man had even bigger debts. They then staged a fake kidnapping to get the family to safety.
Reasons People Disappear
Clients Are Often:
Deep in debt to loan sharks linked to Japan's organised crime groups, the boryokudan.
Victims of stalking or domestic abuse.
Individuals looking to sever ties with family or escape social shame.
Payment
Since most clients are already deep in debt, yonigeya companies usually insist on payment in advance. Some debtors borrow more money the escape.
In some cases, they agree to work on credit, but this comes with a warning. Yoshio Onodera, regional director of a firm called Secret Research, told the Los Angeles Times, 'Since I am hiding them, I know where they live. They have to pay me back."
The Next Chapter
Once moved, clients are often relocated to cities like Tokyo or Osaka, where it is easier to remain unnoticed. The companies can arrange housing, mobile phones and vehicles under other names. Clients are advised to leave behind identification, credit cards and even their own cars to avoid being tracked. They carry a small bag of essentials.
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First Published:
August 12, 2025, 13:57 IST
News viral Fed Up Of Humiliation, Crushing Debt? '100% Legal' Firms Can Make You Vanish, Erase Your Identity
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