You cheated me!” …A female president in her 30s “flooded with complaints about unauthorized use of the company name ‘Katsudensetsu'” and her persistence in arresting the fraud group.

Repair costs are too high!

You cheat people!”

It was last spring when the electrical construction company “Katsu Densetsu” in Chigasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, was inundated with complaint calls. Aimi Katsu, 32, the president of the company, who had no recollection of the calls, initially pacified the callers, saying, “It must have been a misdial. President Katsu recalls.

She said, “The invoices to the people calling to complain were indeed written as ‘Katsu Densetsu. However, the address was different, and the worker whose name said he had done the work was not employed at our company. Still, at the most, we receive close to 10 complaints a day. This was a hindrance to our business, so we investigated and found that a company called “Mach Electric Repair” had undertaken the work and that the workers at the site were using the name “Katsu Densetsu.

On April 9 of this year, the Anti-Gang Division of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department arrested four men, including Kento Matsumoto, 31, a suspect of unknown profession, for attempting to swindle cash in the name of construction fees.

The suspects operated an Internet site under the company name “Mach Electric Repair. When the victim requested work from the company, he was lied to and charged a large amount of money for the work, saying that he would catch fire if he did not replace the breaker. The number of victims was 246, and the amount billed amounted to approximately 47 million yen.

Masaru Densetsu” and “Katsu Densetsu

The aforementioned “Katsu Densetsu” was using the company name “Mach Denki Repair” operated by Matsumoto and his fraudulent group without permission. President Katsu continues (comments below by President Katsu).

We do not know how the company name was used. It is unusual for an electrical construction company, and the president was a woman in her thirties, so it may have stood out. …… However, the scam group called itself ‘Masaru Densetsu. Ours was ‘Katsu Densetsu,’ which reads differently.”

Since last May, President Katsu has been alerted on his website to the frequent occurrence of scams using the same company name. He explained the situation to victims who called to complain, and offered free inspections and restoration work.

The man in his 50s called us and said, “You have suffered damage, so I thought I would do what I could to help. I was surprised when I went to the apartment in Tokyo of the man in his 50s who called me. They explained that they were replacing an electrical outlet, but a large hole had been drilled in the wall and remained there. We could understand why they were angry.

The work done by the scam group was all messed up. The wiring was wrong, the circuits on the distribution board were bullshit, and ……. Some of the restoration work cost tens of thousands of yen per case, and to be honest, it was a pain to deal with for free. Still, I wanted you to know that most electrical contractors do safe and secure work.”

There is an anomaly.”

Some of the quotes and invoices written to the victims were close to 500,000 yen, and all were very expensive (related image). Although it is difficult to say, President Katsu felt that “we could do it for less than half the price.

President Katsu took action to confirm the reality of the situation. Posing as a customer, he asked Mach Electric Repair to inspect the distribution board.

The man who came to the office was a young man, probably in his early twenties, wearing white work clothes and black pants. I felt uncomfortable. Normally, we put a work belt around our waists and carry a lot of tools, but he was strangely light. Moreover, he looked at a normal distribution board and started saying, “There is something wrong with it,” and “I would like to give you an estimate.

When I asked him to show me his electrician’s license, he became very blunt and said, “I don’t have it with me right now. Just like a driver’s license, you must carry your license with you when you work.

When I questioned him further, he admitted that he was a fake worker, saying, ‘I don’t have a license,’ so I called 110. Until the police arrived, he was exhausted and said, ‘I had to do this (fraud) because I was in debt,’ and ‘80% of my compensation was taken by the president.

After President Masaru made the 110 call, the worker was interviewed by the police. As mentioned above, the suspects who operated “Mach Electric Repair” were arrested this year.

We are a small company with a few employees working diligently. It is very frustrating that the name of the company was abused and fraudulent activities were carried out. But we want to use this incident as a springboard to work with pride. Even the general public has measures to take if they feel ‘suspicious. It may take courage to suddenly ask, ‘Let me see your exemption. It is also effective to get quotes from several contractors and compare them.

According to the National Consumer Affairs Center, there were 6,088 consultations on electrical and other inspection scams in FY 2013, a dramatic 150-fold increase from FY 2011. This time, President Katsu’s persistence led to the arrest of the scam group.