Defrauded consumers by a land-banking scheme are cheated by scammers again and again. The National Consumer Affairs Centre reported the status quo of the injuries in 2006. The taders invite the former victimes to carry out measurement or advertisement of their plots to promote them; but their real aim is to get the payment of the measurement or the advertisement from the victims. Tokyo metropolitan government revealed the names of 6 land-bank companies that rejected the demand of the disclosure concerning the details of their market promotion. The latest criminal case was detailed on 9th May 2008.
Up until about 20 years ago, many companies marketing plots of land as an investment opportunity had been damaging a number of consumers located in urban area such as Tokyto and Osaka. This scheme was simlar as a land-banking fraud in UK.
Rogue traders offered “investment opportunities” to private individuals under a scheme in which fields purchased by the company were divided into plots of land and then sold for investment purposes. Lands sold in Tokyo were located in rural area, Hokkaido, Aomori; Osaka people bought lands situated in Mie, Nara and Hyogo prefecture. Lands acquired were divided into smaller plots and sold to private individuals with a view to be developed as a housing or industrial estates near future.
