Major property developer Sekisui House has reported to have lost as much as 6.3 billion Yen (approx. 58 million USD) to scammers in a fraudulent land sale in central Tokyo.

According to a public announcement made by Sekisui earlier this month, they had agreed to purchase the property from a company that claimed to have already signed a tentative sales agreement with the alleged property owner. On the day of settlement, the property title was to be transferred from the original owner to the middle company and then to Sekisui. After the money had changed hands, the registry office (the government agency responsible for recording official changes in property titles) rejected the deed-change application because the title and identification documents from the alleged seller were falsified. By this point the ‘seller’ and associated parties had fled with the money and could not be contacted.

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