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Yomiuri Shimbun file photo The National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan in Minato Ward, Tokyo
By Akihiro Takeda / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
7:00 JST, February 2, 2025
Problems have been reported one after another regarding advertisements on social media for side jobs, and people have been defrauded when responding to such ads.
The nefarious online advertisements solicit applicants with phrases that sound attractive with work that is easy to do. One of them mentions that people working for the side jobs “only need to post messages on social media.”
However, operators of most of such advertisements demand applicants to pay support fees in advance, or demand that they transfer some money to do the side job.
A sizeable number among those who have sought help from public authorities in connection with such advertisements are women in their 20s and 30s. Thus, the Consumer Affairs Agency and other relevant public entities are calling on people to be careful.
Attracted by high earnings
A female nurse in her 20s who works at a hospital in Fukuoka Prefecture became curious about one such ad that read, “There is a side job at which you can earn much money.” She saw it on an Instagram account that she followed.
The account under a woman’s name had always posted information related to nursing jobs. The young nurse thought that she would be able to work on the side, and she asked for an online consultation.
Although she believed that the Instagram account belonged to a woman, a man of a similar age to her appeared on the screen.
He told her, “Your duty is only introducing a company’s products on your Instagram account. If things go well, you can earn tens of thousands of yen a month.” Then he demanded that she pay ¥600,000 as a support fee for the coming six months.
She paid most of the amount, but felt anxious several days later. When she sought advice from people she knew, they told her it may be a fraud.
Because the contract stipulated that there were no refunds, she consulted a judicial scrivener’s office and asked it to handle the case.
Although she was able to get a refund, she received an amount lower than she expected partly because she had to pay the judicial scrivener’s office.
“I have nothing but regret,” the woman said. “I hadn’t imagined such a thing would happen to me via an Instagram account I check regularly.”
Emphasizing easy work
The number of consultations for problems related to side jobs — for which advertisers claim that “you can earn much by doing easy tasks” — has been on the rise year by year.
According to the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan, the number of such consultations was 1,341 in fiscal 2020. The figure surged about 2.8-fold to 3,700 in fiscal 2023.
From April to November in fiscal 2024, the number was 2,257, a pace likely to exceed the number in the corresponding period in the previous fiscal year.
The wording of solicitations differs widely. Ads say, for example, “What you should do is click the ‘Like!’ button for an advertisement on social media, “You just need to watch video clips,” and “You only need to provide consultations.”
Most of the advertisements emphasize how easy the side job’s tasks are. Officials of public authorities said there were cases in which those who began the side jobs could get hundreds to thousands of yen initially, apparently because the operators made the applicants believe they would be able to actually earn money
After people accepted the offers, in many cases, the operators demanded they pay money in advance for commercial-use information materials or support fees saying that the operators will teach people techniques to be successful in the side job.
In other cases, operators demanded money transfers, saying that the work would bring higher earnings, but transferring money in advance was necessary.
Social media accounts for 70%
Among side job-related problems, the percentage of those solicited through social media surged from 23% in fiscal 2020 to 72% in fiscal 2024.
About 80% of people who sought consultations regarding the issue were women, and many of them were young. Among these women, about half were in their 20s, and about 16% were in their 30s.
