OSAKA (TR) – On March 7, 2024, a suitcase containing a complete of greater than 1 billion yen in payments was handed over to a younger man claiming to be a consultant of an actual property firm in Osaka City.
But there was one drawback: He wasn’t a consultant of the corporate.
In a so-called “land fraud” case, an individual pretends to be the proprietor, buys and sells a property with out permission and winds up pocketing giant quantities of cash.
Eight years in the past, such an incident occurred in downtown Tokyo a number of years in the past whereby a significant housing producer was defrauded out of 5.5 billion yen.
And now, in line with NHK (June 24), an identical incident has taken place in Osaka — a wild story of imposters and fakery over properties in a extremely fascinating a part of Japan’s third greatest metropolis.
Forged driver’s licenses
All advised, the quantity misplaced by two firms was over 1.4 billion yen. Two suspects arrested on suspicion of fraud and different crimes are firm government Hiroshi Fukuda, 53, of Higashiosaka City, and 24-year-old Ryohei Kume.
Between February and March of final yr, the pair are suspected of impersonating the homeowners of three land plots and buildings in Osaka’s downtown Minami space, signing gross sales contracts with two actual property firms and defrauding them out of a complete of roughly 1.45 billion yen.
The land and buildings had been owned by an organization whose president is a lady in her 70s. The pair is suspected of making use of for false company registrations utilizing solid driver’s licenses of the girl and different paperwork to make it seem that president had modified.
Police have additionally arrested a lady in her 60s who was concerned in making use of for the false registrations together with the pair. Another lady in her 70s is present process questioning on a voluntary foundation.
“Key was lost”
The incident got here to mild when 5 representatives from the defrauded firm visited the property in mid-March final yr.
On that day, the male supervisor of the constructing discovered that the constructing’s locks wouldn’t open. When he went to test on the state of affairs, he found that the doorway lock had been changed with out the permission.
Shortly thereafter, 5 unknown males from the defrauded firm got here down the steps.
When requested concerning the change to the locks and keys, one of many 5 mentioned, “I’ve already paid. I heard from the seller that the key was lost, so I replaced it.”
Stunned, the supervisor instantly contacted the president of the corporate that really owns the property.
“I don’t remember selling it,” the president mentioned. “I want you to call the police because it might be a real estate fraudster.”
“I had nowhere to vent my anger”
In an interview, the supervisor advised NHK, “I didn’t know what was going on and I couldn’t keep up. The person who said he bought the property said he was planning to demolish the building. So, if we hadn’t run into each other, it would have been a big problem.”
Meanwhile, the president of the corporate that owns the property additionally revealed in an interview with NHK that she had observed one thing unusual as early as February of final yr.
When she had a judicial scrivener test the corporate’s registration for an additional cause, she found that the “CEO” column had been modified to an individual named “Kume” with out her information.
She rushed to the ward workplace and the Legal Affairs Bureau to ask to see the paperwork used within the registration software, however they refused to point out them as a result of they had been private data.
After that, she began receiving inquiries from a number of actual property firms about properties she owned.
The president mentioned, “Even when I explained to the Legal Affairs Bureau that the registration was fake, they didn’t believe me because they said that ‘real documents were submitted,’ and I ended up spending a lot of time and money in a civil lawsuit. I had nowhere to vent my anger.”
Fake I.O.U.
According to investigators and civil trial paperwork, the suspects first created a faux I.O.U. stating that the girl who serves because the president had borrowed cash from the suspects.
They are suspected of presenting this to the ward workplace and acquiring a duplicate of the president’s resident registration card whereas posing as a creditor.
The Basic Resident Registration Act permits native governments to supply copies of the debtor’s resident registration card and different paperwork when the request is deemed applicable for the aim of accumulating money owed. Police consider this technique was abused.
The suspects are believed to have used a photograph of the second lady, the one in her 70s, to forge a driver’s license of the president. They additionally ready false minutes of a unprecedented common assembly of shareholders stating that Kume had changed her because the president.
They are suspected of then making use of to the Legal Affairs Bureau to alter the company registration.
“Just sell the real estate”
With Kume posing because the president of the corporate that owned the actual property, he and Fukuda negotiated the sale with two actual property firms final March.
According to investigators, the negotiations befell on the workplace of one of many events, with round 10 individuals in attendance, together with a judicial scrivener and a dealer.
Kume mentioned that the actual proprietor, the corporate president in her 70s, was his “aunt.” he defined the explanation for promoting by saying, “I wished to start out a enterprise, and once I talked to my aunt about it, she advised me, ‘Just sell the real estate and raise the funds.’”
The contract was quickly concluded. Most of the 1.45 billion yen was paid in cash a few days later, except for a deposit of 50 million yen. The cash is believed to have been exchanged in suitcases.
According to investigators, Fukuda is believed to have been the ringleader and given instructions to Kume to play the role of president.
During questioning, Fukuda said, “My share was more than 100 million yen.” Police believe he provided funds to Kume and are investigating the flow of the money. However, Fukuda also made statements to police to suggest there were other people above him who were involved.
According to a person involved in the investigation, Kume is thought to have participated in the crime because he owed several million yen due to wagers at internet casinos and other recreations. He traveled to Thailand immediately after the incident and stayed there for about one month.
Property boom
“Tokyo Swindlers” was a series focusing on land fraud that plays on streaming site Netflix. The show focused on tales of a land fraudsters known as jimenshi.
As the aforementioned case reveals, Osaka is also ripe for such scams — and there few in the industry are surprised given the frothy market.
Although the buildings in Minami are more than 50 years old, the land parcels beneath them are located in a prime location, about a 10-minute walk from Namba Station on the Osaka Metro.
The Minami are has recently seen particularly active real estate transactions within the prefecture. According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism’s “Land Price Public Notice,” land costs within the space have risen by greater than 20 p.c in some areas in comparison with final yr. Based on the discover, the Minami space has six of the highest 10 most costly places in Osaka City.
The most important components are mentioned to be this yr’s Osaka-Kansai Expo and the surge in overseas vacationers over the previous few years.
As a end result, there’s excessive demand for eating places, motels and personal lodgings. Further bolstering demand in the actual property market is that Osaka is mostly cheaper than Tokyo.
“With real estate prices in Tokyo remaining high, real estate in Minami is very attractive to investors,” mentioned Matsunaga Akira, president of the Osaka Prefecture Association of Real Estate Appraisers. “When properties are put up for sale, they are traded at the asking price, and there is even growing demand for properties away from the center [of the city].”
In the midst of this, some actual property brokers final yr heard that the three properties within the aforementioned fraud case had been being put up on the market collectively.
According to at least one actual property company, though the costs had been under no circumstances low cost, the great location meant that there could be demand from patrons. However, the company grew to become suspicious because the supply of the knowledge was unclear, and determined to not become involved within the transaction.
The president of that actual property company advised NHK, “I learned about the case on the news and immediately knew they were one and the same. In the real estate industry, there is a strong belief that the less information there is, the more valuable it is, and transactions are often made between individuals based on information that is passed on by hand. This makes it easy for fraudsters to take advantage. If they make one wrong move, it may be difficult for even real estate professionals to detect it.”
No enterprise playing cards exchanged
NHK additionally tracked down an actual property trade insider who mentioned he had unsuccessfully negotiated a take care of Fukuda for a similar properties final yr.
The insider mentioned, “Negotiations are usually held in an office or other place, but Fukuda said, ‘Not at a company.’ We suggested a hotel, but he refused, saying, ‘We don’t want to be seen because we’re in the middle of a dispute,’ so we ended up at a private lodging. He also suggested staying in his car, so we thought he was really worried about something.”
On the appointed day, the individual in query met Fukuda and Kume, once more claiming to be the proprietor of the property, on the entrance to the personal lodging.
Perhaps crucially, no enterprise playing cards had been exchanged.
According to the supply, Kume appeared nervous, and as quickly as his id was confirmed along with his driver’s license, he returned to his automotive, which was parked close by.
After that, Fukuda and a number of other different patrons, together with the individual in query, entered the room and sat on the couch and mattress, respectively, to proceed the negotiations.
Fukuda defined that he was “managing the owner’s finances” and requested for a complete of 550 million yen for the three properties.
There had been some uncommon facets to the deal, reminiscent of refusing to potential patrons to view the properties and demanding {that a} deposit of fifty million yen be paid on the identical day, however the supply believed his story and started drawing up a contract, believing the declare that there have been some particular circumstance concerned, together with a “family dispute.”
“Dignified and calm”
When requested about his impression of Fukuda in the course of the negotiations, he mentioned, “He was dignified and calm. He answered all of our questions 100 percent.”
However, the supply mentioned that his explanations had been too detailed for somebody who was not the proprietor of the properties. The supply then steadily started to really feel uneasy.
In the top, the contract was placed on maintain that day resulting from lack of completion of paperwork. The subsequent day, Fukuda contacted the proprietor. He mentioned, “I have already found a buyer, so I will decline.” They then misplaced contact.
The supply recalled, “We think the suspects were negotiating with multiple companies at the same time. They became cautious in the end because they felt something was off about the explanation, but when they found out it was a fraud case they were relieved that they didn’t have to hand over any money.”