I ordered from a 2nd-hand online toy store. They sent me an email to transfer the payment. I was naive enough to send them to the bank account they mentioned. They haven’t responded to my emails and the phone number is not working. I don’t think I will get my money back which is fine, but I would like to report the site to the authorities so that other people won’t make the same mistake.
Does anyone have ideas on how to report them? I have poor Japanese so I probably won’t be able to go to the police station.
I am supposed to be knowledgeable about these scams but I got too comfortable and somehow them trusted because it was in Japanese. No excuse, but it got me off guard which I am afraid other people will encounter as well.
Thanks in advance.
4 comments
You can do something here: https://www.antiphishing.jp/registration.html but it’s unclear what the actioning will be, after all, nobody is “policing” the internet.
Always check website whois, ‘about’ company information, and cross check this info with maps or other websites, especially if Japanese reads weird. A lot of these sites are made by Chinese scammers who copy existing product images/descriptions from other online stores or from mercari/yahoo auctions etc and just collect your money. Usually the sites will have a random IP phone as contact (if any at all), and office location in residental area or other weirdness.
>Does anyone have ideas on how to report them? I have poor Japanese so I probably won’t be able to go to the police station.
Have you tried calling the non-emergency line and requesting a translator?
Realizing your money is gone there’s a possability they can close the bank account that was probably purchased from some student who’s already home and keep others from getting snared for a while.
And to the people always complaining about banking regulations – this is why they have them…
Is this Mandarake?
Stick with mandarake, surugaya, amiami, and/or the second flea market apps ala mercari, rakuma/fril, paypay furima, and yahoo auctions
Ive noticed a ton of scam e-commerce sites here copying goods found on flea market apps/auctions. Seems localized to target japan as I have never seen that prevalence of this type of scam before in other countries.