OSAKA - A new type of bank-transfer scam, in which investors in unlisted stocks are falsely offered reimbursement for fraud losses by a government-authorized organization, has surfaced.

The Deposit Insurance Corporation of Japan, which handles legal relief procedures for scam victims, has received reports on 18 cases of fraud in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka and other cities since mid-January, totaling 2 million yen in losses, according to the corporation.

The corporation is urging the public to take precautions against the billing scam, saying the corporation never collects commissions for the relief service.

According to the corporation, a letter bearing the corporation's logo that explained the procedures for fraud victims was sent on Jan. 10 to a victim of unlisted stock fraud in Fukuoka Prefecture.

The letter included a flowchart illustrating the reimbursement process, and it explained that dividends would be distributed to victims in accordance with the relief law if they applied for the relief program and paid its procedural fees. The letter referenced a Tokyo firm that claimed to be commissioned by the corporation as a relief organization for specific victims.

When the Fukuoka man called the firm, it asked him to transfer 10 percent of the fraud losses as legal expenses to be refunded. The man transferred a total of 1.36 million yen to a designated bank account on four occasions between Jan. 18-20.

When his losses were never refunded, he contacted the corporation and discovered the firm did not exist.

The man reportedly said he thought the letter was legitimate because the corporation was mentioned.

A man in Chiba Prefecture was defrauded of 650,000 yen by the same firm in a similar manner in mid-January.

The corporation said it was a felonious and inexcusable crime that delivered an additional blow to fraud victims.

'Victims' info shared'

The National Police Agency says the group that fraudulently sells unlisted stocks and the one that offers fraud losses refunds are different, meaning the names of unlisted stock investment victims might have been shared.

Bank transfer fraud losses totaled 9.58 billion yen in 2009, a drop of about two-thirds from the previous year. The NPA has warned that bank-transfer fraud groups are using a new approach in which they pretend to be members of an organization helping fraud victims.

According to the NPA, fraudulent practices involving selling unlisted stocks go back about 20 years.

-The Yomiuri Shimbun/Asia News Network