Scam Group Arrested After Using Company Name Without Permission, Causing Wave of Complaints

“Your repair costs are way too high!”

“You’re scamming people!”

Complaints flooded into the electrical construction company “Katsu Densetsu,” located in Chigasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, last spring. At first, the unaware president, Ai Minami (32), tried to calm callers by saying, “Could it be a wrong number?”

She recalls:

“The people making complaints said the invoices they received did indeed list ‘Katsu Densetsu.’ However, the address was different, and none of the workers named in the reports actually belonged to our company. At one point, we were receiving nearly 10 complaints a day. It was disrupting our business, so we investigated and found that a company called ‘Mach Electric Repair’ had been contracted for the work, and workers on-site were falsely claiming to be from ‘Katsu Densetsu.’”

On April 9 this year, the Metropolitan Police Department’s Organized Crime Division arrested four men, including a man named Kento Matsumoto (31), whose occupation is unknown, on suspicion of fraudulently attempting to collect money under the pretense of construction fees.

Matsumoto and his group operated a website under the name “Mach Electric Repair.” When customers requested work, they were told lies such as “Your circuit breaker must be replaced or your house could catch fire,” and were charged excessive fees. The number of victims is estimated at 246, with total charges reaching about 47 million yen.

“Masaru Densetsu” and “Katsu Densetsu”

The aforementioned “Katsu Densetsu” had its company name used without permission by the fraud group operating “Mach Electric Repair.” The president continues:

“I don’t know how they ended up using our name. Maybe it stood out because I’m a woman in my 30s running an electrical construction company. However, the scammers were actually using the reading ‘Masaru Densetsu.’ Our company is ‘Katsu Densetsu,’ so the pronunciation is different.”

Since May last year, Katsu Densetsu has posted warnings on its website about repeated fraud cases using the same company name. They also began explaining the situation to victims who called them and, when possible, provided free inspection and repair work.

“I wanted to do whatever I could for the victims. When I visited a man in his 50s at his apartment in Tokyo, I was shocked. He had been told it was just a simple outlet replacement, but there was a large hole in the wall left unrepaired. It was no wonder he was angry.

The work done by the scam group was a complete mess—wiring mistakes, chaotic breaker panel configurations, and more. Some repairs cost tens of thousands of yen to fix. Offering free repairs was honestly a financial burden. Still, I wanted people to understand that most electrical contractors work safely and properly.”

There is something abnormal

The invoices and estimates given to victims included charges close to 500,000 yen, all of which were extremely expensive (see related images). While it cannot be generalized, President Katsu felt that our company would have done it for less than half that amount.

To confirm what was really happening, President Katsu took action. She posed as a customer and requested an inspection of a distribution board from “Mach Electric Repair.”

“A young man who looked to be in his early 20s came to our office wearing a light-colored work uniform and black pants. I immediately felt something was off. Normally, we wear tool belts filled with equipment around our waist, but he was unusually unprepared. He also looked at a perfectly normal distribution board and started saying things like, ‘There is something abnormal,’ and ‘I’d like to prepare an estimate.’

When I found it suspicious and asked, ‘Can you show me your electrician’s license?’ he became flustered and said he didn’t have it with him. Just like a driver’s license, electricians are required to carry their certification when performing work.

When I pressed further, he admitted he had no qualifications and was a fake worker, so I called 110. While waiting for the police, he looked exhausted and said things like, ‘I had debts and had no choice but to do this (fraud),’ and ‘80% of the payment goes to the boss.’”

After President Katsu called the police, the worker was questioned by officers. As mentioned earlier, the people running “Mach Electric Repair” were later arrested this year.

“We are a small company, honestly working hard with just a few employees. It is extremely frustrating that our company name was misused for fraudulent activity. However, I want to use this incident as motivation to take pride in our work. For the general public, there are ways to respond if something feels suspicious. It may be difficult to directly ask, ‘Please show your license,’ but comparing estimates from multiple companies can be effective.”

According to the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan, consultations regarding inspection scams involving electrical work reached 6,088 cases in fiscal year 2025, a 150-fold increase from fiscal year 2023.

In this case, President Katsu’s persistence led to the arrest of the fraud group.