Protection against Fraud and Scams

Japan Partner helping to fight fraud

Japan Partner Inc. actively supports initiatives aimed at fighting internet fraud and scams.

We have helped individuals defrauded by internet scams on several occasions to reclaim their money by referring them to the appropriate law enforcement bodies here in Japan and also abroad.

While there are ways to reclaim funds if you have been defrauded, you should think twice before parting with your money. Before making any transfers to a company that you have never dealt with before you should ascertain that you are dealing with a legitimate business.

There are good reasons why many leading banks encourage their clients to be extra careful when dealing with an internet business and very often require a reconfirmation before carrying out any remittance request.

It is of course best to prevent becoming a victim of fraud in the first place.

How can you know if a company is "real"?

There are a number of things you can do to find out if a used vehicle exporter located in Japan is a "real" business and reliable:

1. Find out if the business is a member of JUMVEA (Japan Used Motor Vehicles Exporter`s Association)
   Only exporters that operate in accordance with the highest standards of the industry can achieve membership. JUMVEA was set up by the Japan Government`s Ministry of Industry and Trade.
2. Ask the company for their registration documents
   A minimum requirement for a company to conduct business legally in Japan is to be registered with the local authorities. Make sure you obtain copies and translations of the relevant registration documents. Translations should have been done by a third party translation firm.
3. Contact JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization)
   JETRO has access to a database called Teikoku Databank which contains key data on Japanese businesses.
4. Contact your Embassy in Japan
   The embassy of your country in Japan has local knowledge and may in many cases provide you with information you need to make a sensible decision.
5. Find out the physical address and also landline telephone number
   Make sure that you know the physical address of the company you wish to start business with. Also ensure you know the landline telephone number. Do not deal with a company that only communicates by email or cell phone.

More Information:

Japan Partner is doing all possible to prevent and stop Internet Fraud related crimes. In the past we successfully terminated attempts of the criminals to take advantage of internet media with the purpose of deceiving customers and making them transfer the payments for the goods they never possessed. We have the latest technology recommended by the cyber police division to make sure that all attempts for criminal action are intercepted within the shortest possible time.

We recommend you to report any cases of internet fraud taking place here in Japan and report them to us sending it to the following email account crimewatch@japan-partner.com If you are reporting a fraud case please be specific with such details as names of the people you were dealing, internet address, bank account you transferred the payment. There are two effective police forces in place to fight internet fraud and we highly advise you to report your case to the professionals:

In case the fraud is coming from US based company, you can report it to FBI affiliated organization called Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC Center) The Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC) is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C). IFCC's mission is to address fraud committed over the Internet. For victims of Internet fraud, IFCC provides a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities of a suspected criminal or civil violation. For law enforcement and regulatory agencies at all levels, IFCC offers a central repository for complaints related to Internet fraud, works to quantify fraud patterns, and provides timely statistical data of current fraud trends.

Here are our recommendations how to reduce the chances of being a victim of Internet Fraud. At the same time we advise you not to be paranoid about internet fraud as the vast majority of the companies selling cars on the internet are real companies (it is another issue what they delivery and the quality of the goods they deliver).

Here are basic things that you need to have in mind:

1. Web site should be hosted on a company-owned domain. Japan Partner Inc owns www.japan-partner.com domain, most of the trustworthy companies have their own domains (however it is still not a guarantee that the criminals won't make their own domain)
2. Company MUST HAVE its physical address, phone numbers and fax numbers on the website.
3. Company must have its license or registration number
4. Web-site should container good amount of information and good selection of the cars to choose from. If you see a company that has very low prices and few cars - it is better to stay away from them.
5. If there is a company trying to sell you a car but have no description how they are going to ship the car, will be also better to stay away from them
6. When browsing through the cars which you are thinking about buying, make sure that good amount of pictures are available since anyone can take 1-2 pictures of the cars they don't own
7. When buying a car from another company, make sure that the car has a valid Export Deregistration Certificate. If you purchase the car without valid Export Deregistration Certificate - you won't be able to ship out from Japan, or import into your own country
8. If you purchasing a car from another company, make sure that this company has an exporter license and has been exporting before. Effective of June 1st, 2005 year automobile export regulations have changed having a profound effect on the industry. Before that if you purchase a car from Japan, only a deregistration certificate was necessary (together with its English translation, Bill of Lading, and invoice). Now there are 3 types of deregistration certificate and the company that you are dealing with should be competent to arrange the proper type of the deregistration certificate to match your needs.
9. Shipping of your car - if the company that you decide to purchase a car from, doesn't have extensive shipping experience, there is a good chance that you might wait long time before your car is shipped. If the company you are dealing with doesn't have an exporter license and doesn't have experience in shipping - large shipping companies and forwarders will not deal with them or deal but providing space on last serve basis.