Whistleblower Reveals: Hong Kong Residents Misled by "Osaka Dream Project," Retirement Funds Washed Away
Hong Kong YouTuber Mr. Atom received reports from multiple victims who attended a real estate investment presentation, intending to invest in Osaka real estate for retirement. After investing their retirement funds, they discovered they were "scammed with empty hands" - the Japanese project had long been halted, developers had changed, and the land broker group included Chinese and Japanese members. According to Mr. Atom, some Chinese members even changed their names to impersonate Japanese people. The old scammer continues to hold real estate presentations in Hong Kong to lure new investors, completely disregarding the judicial system. These victims cry that despite hiring lawyers in Japan, they were not taken seriously by Japanese police and had no recourse, forcing them to seek help through social media.
Mr. Atom recently released a video revealing that multiple Hong Kong residents who participated in real estate investment presentations were misled by the "Japanese Retirement Paradise" blueprint. They invested millions of Hong Kong dollars in Osaka real estate projects, believing they were purchasing nearly completed investment properties. However, they discovered the project had already stopped, the responsible developer had changed company names, the person in charge was unreachable, and complex situations involving unenforceable contracts and unclear land ownership emerged.
Even more shocking is that this Osaka real estate investment scam appears to be orchestrated by a transnational fraud group, involving Chinese, Hong Kong, and Japanese members. They host presentations in luxurious five-star hotels, specifically targeting Chinese-speaking groups interested in investing in Japanese real estate, and continue to scam people to this day.
Many victims sought legal assistance in Japan but faced challenges due to language barriers, limited legal knowledge, and complex international judicial processes. Despite hiring lawyers, they claim Japanese police are relatively passive about reports from non-residents, leaving them almost helpless and forced to seek help through social media.
Japanese Media Reveals Land Broker Tactics: Impersonating Landowners, Changing Company Registration, Scamming 14.5 Billion Yen
Recently, Japanese media extensively reported on a "land broker" fraud case highly similar to a Netflix drama. Led by Japanese individuals, the case shares many commonalities with the case exposed by Mr. Atom. The perpetrators exploited victims' desire to invest in seemingly abundant and relatively cheap Osaka real estate.
The main suspects, Hirokazu Fukuda and Ryohei Kume, falsely represented the actual owners of three prime lands in Osaka's southern district. A sixty-something female group member impersonated the land's company president, using a forged driver's license to submit documents to local administrative units. Successfully deceiving government officials, they changed the land ownership registration and signed purchase contracts with two real estate companies, scamming 14.5 billion yen - almost identical to the Netflix drama "Land Broker" plot. The targeted real estate companies thought they were getting a bargain but ended up with nothing.
How Was the Osaka Land Broker Case Exposed?
According to NHK, a property management staff member noticed someone trying to open a property's door but found the lock had been changed. When contacting the property owner, they were surprised to learn the owner had never sold the property. The manager reported that multiple people believed they had purchased the building but actually bought "nothing." The true owner recommended immediately reporting to the police, which ultimately exposed the entire incident.
The president of the company owning the property revealed in an interview that he had noticed something unusual as early as last February. At that time, the president commissioned a judicial scrivener to check the company registration, and discovered that the "representative director" column had been changed to a person named "Kume" without his knowledge.
Japanese Public Sector Mistakenly Believes Land Broker's Forged Documents, Original Owner Furiously Files Lawsuit
Most incredibly, the land broker could "fabricate truth" by deceiving public officials with forged documents, even fooling the Japanese ward office and legal affairs bureau. The commissioned judicial scrivener frantically ran to the ward office and legal affairs bureau, requesting to view the land registration application documents, but they refused to show them, citing personal information concerns. The property's president only realized this was a "land fraud" when multiple real estate companies consulted him about his property.
The president said that even when he explained to public departments like the legal affairs bureau that the property rights change registration was fake, they did not believe him and claimed the documents were genuine. As a result, he had to spend significant time and money on a civil lawsuit, with his anger finding no outlet.
How Did the Suspect Impersonate the Owner?
NHK interviewed several informed individuals to understand the land broker's specific modus operandi. According to investigation personnel and civil trial documents, the suspected fraud group first forged an IOU, claiming that the female president who owned the property had not repaid a loan. They presented this IOU to the ward government, impersonating creditors and successfully obtaining a copy of the female president's resident registration card.
According to Japan's Basic Resident Registration Law, local governments can provide copies of a debtor's documents to creditors if they deem it appropriate for debt collection. Japanese police told the media that this system has been abused.
The land broker fraud group thus illegally obtained the president's personal information from her resident registration card. An older female member of the group successfully deceived real estate agents by impersonating the president with fake credentials, almost like a Netflix plot - as long as they found someone who looked similar and forged documents, they could fool public officials and real estate companies.
Osaka Property Investment as Bait, Information Asymmetry and Lack of Legal Knowledge as Key Factors
Although the two cases had different backgrounds and perpetrators - one involving a cross-border group scamming the Chinese community, the other a domestic Japanese fraud group - the fraud logic was surprisingly consistent. Using Osaka properties as bait, they exploited loopholes in Japan's land and judicial system, with fraud groups impersonating landowners and developers, providing fake documents that made verification difficult for investors. While the Osaka land broker case's mastermind was Japanese, according to multiple Japanese media reports, most victims were Chinese.
The author believes that the old saying "Don't Trust, Verify" is always useful. When hearing about seemingly "too good to be true" investment opportunities, do not be misled by fraudulent rhetoric. There are no free lunches in the world - protect your assets and property.
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