OSAKA - A fraud group accused of causing about 650 million yen in losses nationwide allegedly purchased popular social media accounts, impersonated their former influencer owners and used the trust built with followers to sell fraudulent side-job programs.
One of the alleged leaders was Shingo Matsumura, a corporate executive in Osaka. Police searched his company’s office in an Osaka building and arrested 41 people connected with the business.
Investigators also seized more than 1,000 items, including smartphones and computers.
The group is suspected of approaching victims through social media with offers of side jobs and taking money from them through expensive training materials and support programs that failed to produce the promised income.
Investigators believe the group specifically targeted accounts belonging to influencers because their followers had already developed a sense of trust and familiarity with them.
One victim, a woman in her 30s living in Osaka Prefecture, worked for a company while raising three children. For about two years, she had followed an influencer who posted photographs and information about children’s boxed lunches.
One day, she received a message apparently sent by the influencer. The sender proposed a side job in which she could earn affiliate income by operating a social media account after purchasing training materials and receiving support.
She was told that paying about 250,000 yen could enable her to earn roughly 100,000 yen through social media operations.
The woman was initially uninterested, but her attitude gradually changed as the sender continued communicating with her through polite and detailed messages.
She said the account’s follower profile and posts appeared unchanged, with content continuing to focus on cooking and child-rearing. That gave her a growing sense of familiarity with the person behind the account.
Although she considered the fee expensive, she wanted to increase her income for her children and trusted the influencer, leading her to pay about 250,000 yen.
However, even after following the training materials and receiving support, she was never given a concrete method for earning money. She later realized that she had been deceived.
The woman said she regretted spending time carrying out the instructions, adding that she wished she had instead used those hours with her children.
Investigators believe the influencer with whom she thought she was communicating had been replaced by a completely different person.
The fraud group allegedly purchased social media accounts with large numbers of followers through intermediaries and then posed as the influencers who had previously operated them.
Members divided their duties, with some posting advertisements for side jobs and others responding to inquiries from followers. The group is also believed to have continued publishing unrelated lifestyle content to preserve the appearance and identity of each account.
One person connected with the operation said a friend had temporarily asked for help posting on social media, so the person uploaded cooking videos, but claimed to know nothing about the broader scheme.
Numerous websites facilitate the buying and selling of social media accounts, despite such transactions generally violating platform rules. Listings include accounts offered for millions of yen, with some priced at more than 4 million yen.
Experts say using an account that appears to belong to an established influencer or another seemingly successful person is a common way to attract potential victims and lower their suspicions.
A second victim interviewed in Okinawa Prefecture was a pregnant homemaker in her 30s. She had been searching for work that she could perform from home while remaining close to her child after giving birth.
She had followed an Instagram influencer for three or four years. The account, which had about 230,000 followers, normally introduced inexpensive household goods and other useful products.
After years of ordinary posts, the account suddenly began publishing Instagram Stories inviting followers to try working from home.
The woman purchased a program costing about 440,000 yen. It purported to teach users how to earn affiliate revenue by introducing products and services to followers on Instagram.
The program offered several levels, including beginner, standard and expert plans. The beginner plan was promoted as a way to earn about 100,000 yen a month, while higher-priced plans appeared to promise greater income.
The woman believed she might be able to make money by publishing content on Instagram, particularly because she was pregnant and wanted an income source that would allow her to stay near her future child.
After expressing interest through a direct message, she was told that the discussion would become more specialized and was moved from Instagram to the Line messaging app for private communication.
The program ultimately failed to generate the promised income.
People interviewed about the account said they could not determine precisely when the original influencer stopped operating it and the alleged fraud group took control.
The case investigated by Osaka Prefectural Police involved activity dating from around autumn 2025. By that stage, investigators believe the account had already been acquired and was being operated by people impersonating its former owner.
The gradual introduction of work-from-home advertisements was considered a possible sign that control of the account had changed, but the exact point of transition remains unclear.
Several factors made the scheme difficult for followers to recognize.
The accounts often had large numbers of followers and had been viewed regularly by victims for several years. Even after being acquired, they continued posting the same kinds of recipes, boxed lunches, household products, dieting tips and family-related content that followers expected.
The accounts also published apparently personal photographs and stories, creating the impression that followers knew the person operating them.
Some of the images, however, may have been free stock photographs found online or pictures of unrelated people presented as the influencer.
The operators also responded sympathetically to concerns about parenting and daily life, further strengthening victims’ trust.
Side-job promotions were introduced gradually between ordinary posts. An account might first show a family trip or an attractive lifestyle, then suggest that such experiences had become possible because of a particular income opportunity.
Followers were subsequently directed to a link offering more information about the program.
Because the promotional content appeared alongside familiar posts about lunches, shopping and family outings, followers often did not suspect that a criminal group might be operating the account.
A total of 2,962 side-job fraud cases were recorded in fiscal 2025, with about 70% believed to have originated through social media.
A lawyer familiar with such cases said impersonation schemes are particularly difficult to detect at the outset and urged consumers to pause and reconsider before making any payment.
Money transferred directly to scammers can be difficult to recover. In some cases involving installment payments by credit card, the card issuer may be able to halt future payments, although recovery is not guaranteed.
Experts stressed that users cannot be certain who is operating a social media account, even when it appears familiar. They advised consumers to reconsider any request to send money to someone whose identity cannot be independently confirmed.
People who believe they have been deceived can contact Japan’s Consumer Hotline by dialing 188 or the police consultation service at #9110.
Source: ABCTVnews
