Fraud Alert from Embassy of Belgium in Japan

Recently several Belgians have been victim of criminals who sell financial products via the internet/phone.

This phenomenon is known as “cold calling,” about which you will find more information on the website of the “Financial Services Agency” (FSA), the Japanese regulator of financial markets: www.fsa.go.jp/en/reference/cold/index.html. In many of these cases the companies allegedly established in Japan appear in the list of “cold callers” of the aforementioned website and are therefore not reliable companies. The fact that a company presumably based in Tokyo does not have a Japanese version of its website should already cause suspicion.

This Embassy advises against responding to any such offers of financial services, and recommends to Belgian nationals that they work only with financial brokers licensed by the Financial Services Agency: www.fsa.go.jp/en/regulated/licensed/index.html). Should you nevertheless get involved in such a scam, you are then advised to file a complaint at the following site: https://meldpunt.belgie.be/meldpunt/en/welcome