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The story
In Adachi Ward, Tokyo this past May, a man in his twenties whose car had broken down searched for JAF (Japan Automobile Federation) on his smartphone and called the contact number that came up. What he actually reached, though, was a fake operator believed to be tied to “Tokuryu” — a loosely organized crime network — and the man who showed up threatened him into handing over ¥300,000 in cash. Two people, including an executive at a roadside-service company, have been arrested. On 5ch, the thread splits between people questioning how a fake company could slip into search results in the first place (an ads/SEO problem) and others pointing out he could have simply used the roadside-assistance rider on his auto insurance instead.
■ Was the man who showed up linked to “Tokuryu”?
The person arrested is Shin Akimoto (24), an executive at a roadside-service company.
This past May, a man in his twenties whose car broke down in Adachi Ward, Tokyo, searched on his phone to call JAF. He reportedly called the contact number that came up in the results.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Expensive, but fine I guess.
Normally you'd just call your own auto insurance though.
A guy who screws up a basic search probably doesn't even know his insurance has roadside assistance.
Google is garbage.
There's been a problem for a while now with scam sites showing up as the top ad.
Users just have to get more internet-savvy.
They probably rigged it to rank above the real JAF in search results.
Just a net cast wide, waiting for people to swim into it.
That's probably not doable.
Gaming it that way costs way too much money.
Guys like this couldn't pull that off.
They wouldn't burn that kind of money and time on it — this isn't some finance-industry operation.
He said he "thought it was affiliated with JAF," so he was probably looking for something cheaper than JAF and got snagged by a scam site claiming some JAF connection.
For water-line work there are municipally-designated contractors, so apparently if one acts outrageously you can file a complaint with the local government and get them delisted.
He might have been a non-member who was never actually signed up with JAF.
Sparkle, sparkle~ (a meme-ish sound effect, often used sarcastically)
Searching "JAF" only brings up JAF lol
Wonder what he actually searched.
Probably something like "cheap tow truck."
Tons of shady results show up for that.
Not sure how exactly, but maybe he got the search results scrubbed at lightning speed afterward?
How are you even supposed to search for a legit company when you need one…
First, call the police.
If you use Virus Buster (a Japanese antivirus suite), it probably blocks it or color-codes results — showing only safe sites in green.
You've got your best buddy Chappy, don't you? (slang nickname for ChatGPT)
Quite a few people clearly haven't read Re: #1.
> Suspect Koki Makishima (26), occupation unknown, was arrested on suspicion of threatening the victim and extorting ¥300,000 in cash.
(That's the guy who showed up.)
> It was suspect Akimoto who arranged this car carrier.
>
> He's suspected of borrowing it from a rental company for nearly a year without paying the rental fee.
(That's the guy who got the call.)
If he doesn't even own a car and uses a rental, he probably doesn't have his own auto insurance either.
(And even if he did, with a "driving other cars" rider, whether it'd cover this situation is iffy.)
People going on about auto insurance should at least read Re: #1.
The car carrier he never returned to the rental company is the one the suspect actually drove there in.
He claimed the car behind him was tailgating and tried to kill the driver by trapping them at a railroad crossing.
Trapped someone at a railroad crossing — attempted murder charge.
Maybe he googled "tow truck" instead of "JAF"?
He probably didn't google "JAF" but something like "roadside service" or "tow truck."
Do that and the top results turn into ads.
For me too, the official site with the JAF logo comes up first.
And all I typed was just
jaf
So how'd he end up picking a different site?
Background and key points of this discussion
“Tokuryu” (anonymous, loosely-affiliated crime networks) is a term that has become common in recent reporting on phone scams and robberies, characterized by ringleaders and low-level operatives who form and disband on a disposable, ad-hoc basis. This particular scheme looks like a form of “search fraud,” where victims connect with a fake operator hidden among search results or ad slots and are then hit with an inflated bill in person. The thread is split between commenters arguing that “searching for JAF only turns up JAF” and others noting that combined search terms like “tow truck” or “cheap” can surface ads and fake sites — and the article alone doesn’t clarify exactly what search terms the victim used. Many auto insurance policies also come with a roadside-assistance rider that can provide free or low-cost help with just a call to the insurer, but non-members or those without that rider may have no choice but to search for a provider this way.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “Called JAF, Tokuryu Showed Up and Shook Him Down for ¥300,000.”
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