OSAKA - Police in Osaka have arrested 41 men and women in a fraud case involving more than 600 million yen in suspected losses, uncovering what investigators believe was a scheme in which real influencer accounts were bought and used to impersonate their original owners and solicit followers into costly side-business programs.
The case has highlighted the growing problem of SNS account sales, in which accounts with large followings are openly traded despite platform rules banning transfers to third parties. The accounts are then sometimes used by new owners to exploit the trust built by their previous operators.
Police suspect company executive Shingo Matsumura and others impersonated real influencers and defrauded three women, including one living in Osaka Prefecture, of a total of about 880,000 yen. Investigators believe the group operated systematically and that more than 2,300 people across Japan may have been affected.
When reporters visited the office where Matsumura and the others were said to have worked, a company name appeared to be posted inside the building, but there was no response.
One woman in Hyogo Prefecture, identified only as A, said she had followed a diet recipe account for about five years and regularly looked forward to its posts. Around last year, however, the account’s content began to change, shifting from recipes to claims about side work and recruitment for people who wanted to learn how to earn money.
Because A believed she was still dealing with the same influencer she had long followed, she said she felt reassured when she was directed from Instagram to LINE. "I felt like I was connected to that person and that I would be taught by that person, so it made me feel lucky," she said.
The person communicating with her on LINE described a work-from-home business, asking, "May I explain in order the home-based work that I and others are doing?" The explanation continued: "It is a way of working in which you use AI to post information on Instagram and earn rewards. Is everything clear so far?"
After repeated exchanges, A said she was introduced to a 550,000 yen SNS operation support school course and paid 100,000 yen of the course fee. She said she trusted the offer because she had been watching the account for years. "I thought, from the flow of the posts, that this person was really working hard," she said.
Asked whether she had earned any revenue from operating the account, A replied, "Zero. Nothing at all. I am in the red."
Documents sent to A included the name of Matsumura and the company he operated. After hearing about the arrests, she consulted police and said she was told she was believed to be a victim of fraud involving Matsumura and others.
According to the suspected mechanism behind the scheme, the accounts used in the fraud originally belonged to other influencers, who sold them to brokers or buyers. Matsumura and others are believed to have purchased those accounts and continued posting while pretending to be the original influencers.
SNS accounts are now openly listed on brokerage sites. One account with 35,000 followers specializing in Kansai gourmet content was listed for 210,000 yen, while another account was listed for 3.5 million yen. Other listings included accounts using AI-generated content and accounts collecting scenic views from around the world.
Although SNS platforms generally prohibit account transfers under their terms of service, experts say the sale itself is difficult to punish directly under current law. One internet specialist said that because account sales are not directly criminalized, many brokers exist and the trade continues because there is demand.
A male influencer with a combined following of about 700,000 on YouTube and Instagram said he had received direct messages several times from people asking to buy his accounts. He said he ignored the offers because he had no intention of selling. "I want this kind of thing to be eliminated or stopped as much as possible," he said. "When such offers come in, I want people to think once about the feelings of the people who follow and watch them before making a decision."
Rose, who conducts online crime-prevention activities at the request of police, said it would be almost impossible for ordinary users to detect fraud if an influencer’s account had genuinely been bought and was then used by someone else to commit crimes. Rose submitted a request to the government last year, together with more than 20,000 signatures, calling for legislation to regulate SNS account sales.
"If we are to reduce even one case of this kind of damage, I strongly believe legislation is necessary," Rose said.
Reporters attempted to contact a brokerage business involved in SNS account sales but were unable to obtain comment.
A said the experience had changed how she views social media. "Instagram scares me, so I do not look at it," she said. "I think anything on SNS about making money or side jobs is all lies. I think it is all fraud."
Legal experts said there is currently no law that directly punishes the sale of SNS accounts, but depending on how an account is used, fraud or fraudulent obstruction of business could apply. They said preventing damage will require stronger regulation by platform operators and greater caution by users, including not blindly trusting posts from influencers.
Commentators also pointed to the responsibility of those who sell accounts, saying sellers must consider that an account may eventually reach someone with malicious intent. If the practice becomes a broader social problem, they said lawmakers may need to seriously consider legal regulation.
The case underscores the risk of faceless online transactions and the extent to which follower counts can create a false sense of credibility. As account sales make it possible for trusted online identities to be taken over by strangers, calls are growing for stronger safeguards to prevent social media from becoming a breeding ground for fraud.
Source: KTV NEWS
