Alert regarding "fictitious claims pretending to be Yahoo Japan Corporation" that use SMS to try to make people pay money in the name of unpaid charges.

Since January 2017, consumer centers and other organizations in various regions have been receiving inquiries regarding fictitious billing attempts to extract money from consumers under the pretext of unpaid fees for paid services on Internet sites, etc., by sending SMS (Short Message Service) messages stating, "You have overdue unpaid fees. If you do not contact us, we will begin legal proceedings. Yahoo." to consumers' smartphones and other mobile phones. When consumers call the phone number listed in the SMS, they are told, "You are XXX million yen in overdue fees for your use of Yahoo for one year," or, "To pay, purchase a gift card at your local convenience store and provide us with the gift certificate number."
Pursuant to Article 38, Paragraph 1 of the Consumer Safety Act (Act No. 50 of 2009), the Consumer Affairs Agency has provided information that there are acts that may unfairly harm the interests of consumers (deceiving or intimidating consumers to confuse them) in transactions with "businesses impersonating Yahoo Japan Corporation." In order to prevent the occurrence or spread of consumer damage, we would like to inform consumers of this information.
For further details, please visit the Consumer Affairs Agency website.