Japan Notaries Warned Over Dubious Requests for Documents; Fraudsters Targeting Funds Meant to Compensate Victims

The Justice Ministry
2:00 JST, January 30, 2025
The Japan National Notaries Association has sounded a warning about people seeking notarial deeds under false pretenses, in order to illicitly withdraw funds meant to compensate the victims of scams, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
The Tokyo-based association sent a letter to notaries across the country earlier this month. It asked them to carefully confirm the details of requests for notarized documents, as suspicious actions have been confirmed at a notary office in Tokyo.
A notarial deed officially certifies the lending or borrowing of money between different parties, among other things. Notaries public, appointed by the justice minister, receive a request from an individual or company to create such documents and prepare them at the notary’s office, checking the details in the presence of the parties involved.
Notarial deeds have the same legal power as court judgments. Based on these deeds, “compulsory execution” can be conducted to seize a bank account or real estate to recover debts.
According to an informed source, requests were made to a notary public in Tokyo to draw up notarial deeds between two companies that were in contractual relations. The documents were to state that one of the companies would “repay loans and other debts” and that “compulsory execution could be carried out if payment was not made.”
A notary public became suspicious when they repeatedly received such requests, and in late November asked the party who had sought the deeds to provide supporting documents to verify the content. The party in question said they would prepare them, but then dropped out of contact.
In response to this situation, the association sent a letter to about 500 notaries at around 300 notary offices across the country on Jan. 15. It said fraud groups might misuse notarized documents in a bid to have authorities implement compulsory execution to withdraw funds from bank accounts that had been frozen to compensate their scam victims.
It urged notaries to carefully check whether there is reliable documentation for requests for notarized documents in suspicious circumstances — for example, when the circumstances are unclear or the notarized documents would state unreasonably large figures for the money allegedly loaned or borrowed.
The Yomiuri Shimbun reported earlier this month that a victim of an investment scam has filed a lawsuit against a Tokyo consulting company for withdrawing funds from a bank account that had been frozen to compensate the victim through compulsory execution. The company allegedly used notarized documents that were acquired through false pretenses.
Notaries are public officials appointed by the justice minister as experts on legal practice. Among other things, they draw up notarized documents from a neutral standpoint for the lending and borrowing of money, the sale or purchase of land or buildings, and wills.
They are chosen from among legal experts such as judges, prosecutors and lawyers, and from among court officials and judicial scriveners. Many former judges and prosecutors have been chosen as notaries.
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