Commercial debt collection scam using the names Tatsuo Higuchi and Otsuka Holdings
Description of Potential Fraud:

An Ontario firm notified us that they received an email from the purported Tatsuo Higuchi and Otsuka Holdings looking to looking to retain them with regards to a commercial debt collection.
This is a classic bad cheque scam that presents as legal matter requiring the assistance of a lawyer. In this scam lawyers will be duped into wiring real funds from their trust accounts after depositing a fake cheque received as payment from the debtor (who is part of the fraud). See our Confirmed Fraud Page for more of an explanation of how these frauds work and to see other names associated with it. Our Fraud Fact Sheet lists the red flags of a bogus legal matter that is really a fraud.
Here is the initial contact email sent by the fraudster to the lawyer:
From: Magdalene Beglau (mbeglau) [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Tatsuo Higuchi
Sent: September-15-14 5:25 AM
Subject: Otsuka Holdings Co. Ltd
Hello,
We wish to contract you or your esteemed company to act as our company’s representative (intermediary between Otsuka Holdings Co., Limited and its customers in Canada and United States). If you agree to this affiliation, we will be very glad and compensations will be given as well as other benefits. Please advise if you are interested in partnering with us. No prior experience needed
Regards,
Tatsuo Higuchi
President and Representative Director, CEO
Otsuka Holdings Co. Ltd
www.otsuka.com/jp
Replying to the email brought this response:
Thanks for your reply. I would like your firm to represent us with regards to a contract case, and i believe you will have to run a conflict check before you can decide to represent us. Below is the debtors information for a conflict check.
Auer Steel & Heating Supply Company
3050 Progress Rd, Madison, WI 53716, United States
Please get back to me so that i can furnish you with more information about this matter.
How to handle a real or suspected fraud
If you have been targeted by any of these frauds, please forward any of the emails and supporting documents that you have received to [email protected].
If you suspect you are acting on a matter that might be a fraud, call LAWPRO at 1-800-410-1013 (416-598-5899). We will talk you through the common fraud scenarios we are seeing and help you spot red flags that may indicate you are being duped. This will help you ask appropriate questions of your client to determine if the matter is legitimate or not. If the matter you are acting on turns out to be a fraud and there is a potential claim, we will work with you to prevent the fraud and minimize potential claims costs.
If you have been successfully duped, please immediately notify LAWPRO as there may be a claim against you. Instructions on how to report a claim are here.
For more immediate updates on fraud and claims prevention, subscribe to the email or RSS feed updates from LAWPRO’s AvoidAClaim blog.
Fraud Fact Sheet More fraud prevention information and resources are available on the practicePRO Fraud page, including the Fraud Fact Sheet, a handy reference for lawyers and law firm staff that describes the common frauds and the red flags that can help identify them.
October 02, 2014 at 1:43 pm, Stuart Ford said:
I received a similar email this morning from TatsuoHiguchi at outlook dot com:
“We wish to contract your esteemed company to act as our company’s representative (intermediary between Otsuka Holdings Co., Ltd and its customers in Canada and United States). If you agree to this affiliation, we will be very glad and compensations will be given as well as other benefits. Please advise if you are interested in partnering with us.
Consultant
www.otsuka.com/jp ”
I am going to forward it on to Otsuka to see if they want to take action.
I really appreciate this website. Thank you.
October 05, 2014 at 12:59 pm, Gabriel Gonzalez said:
Hi,
I got the same email
“We wish to contract your esteemed company to act as our company’s representative (intermediary between Otsuka Holdings Co.,
Ltd and its customers in Canada and United States). If you agree to this affiliation, we will be very glad and compensations
will be given as well as other benefits. Please advise if you are interested in partnering with us.”
some additional info
Return-Path:
Received: from sitemail.siteprotect.com (sitemail.mfg.siteprotect.com. [64.26.60.155])
This looks like a botnet, probably related to the shellshock bug.
I was close to answer it, Thanks!
-Gabriel Gonzalez
Software & Security Architect
October 22, 2014 at 8:03 pm, Eric said:
Hi there,
I have received a similar email from the same email address regarding a sales position and affiliation (with good salary) of their services in north america. I replied and asked for a phone number and they sent a PDF (with providing no phone number). I Googled and found this amazing website and understood it’s a scam and didn’t reply anymore.
Thanks
April 29, 2015 at 10:37 am, Boonzer said:
I have been going back and forth with this company. Today they mention that I will need to deposit the collections into my account…! Huh? That’s when the shoe dropped. Imagine you deposit a cheque, forward the money and the cheque becomes NSF… SCAM
February 18, 2016 at 6:20 pm, R Park said:
I received a similar email from Otsuka claiming to be a sales rep for debt collections.. pls see below.
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd
2-9, Kanda Tsukasa-machi,
Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo 101-8535, Japan
Tel: +81-3-6717-1400
Fax: +81-3-6717-1499
Hello ****,
Thank you very much for your effort shown so far. The company wants you to immediately contact one of our customer who will in due time make payment. As our sales/collection representative, we have forwarded your letter of appointment and information to him. He is waiting to hear from you, you should immediately call him and also send him an email. Tell him that you are contacting on behalf of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd Japan and you are now assigned to him. Henceforth you must address yourself as Otsuka Payment Representative at the buttom of every email sent to our customer. Find attached herewith, a copy of the invoice which he intend paying installment basis and the appointment letter for your review.
Below are his contact details:
Contact Person: Stuart Read
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 717-292-8822
Please immediately contact him and keep me updated as soon as you hear from him.
I await to hear from you.
Thank You,
Yoshie Takahiro,
Senior Recruitment Manager
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
March 15, 2016 at 6:38 pm, Sherry said:
I have received the exact greeting/email above dated Feb.18, 2016. The only thing that would be different is the signature name at the bottom. The email I received was word for word but the name was Mikie Takahiro. The debtor name is the same too. Then Mr. Read referred me to a Matt Oliver out of Canada. Mr. Oliver sent the check for his bill and while on hold to clear, it came back counterfeit. SCAM…..
May 04, 2016 at 10:37 am, Tiffany said:
Hi, I have been emailed with similar information regarding g about collecting payments from customers who have missed their payments. I will forward it to you. On May 3, 2016 11:35 PM, “Otsuka Pharmaceuticals” wrote:
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
2-9, Kanda Tsukasa-machi,
Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo 101-8535, Japan
Tel: +81-3-6717-1400
Fax: +81-3-6717-1499
Hello Tiffany,
OBJECTIVE
Seeking position as a credit collections representative with Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd where professional experience and education will be utilized to make an immediate contribution to the company.
• Speak with customers to settle on reason for overdue payment
• Reconciled discrepancies with clients
• Recorded information regarding financial status of client and status of collection efforts
• Granted extensions of credit
• Coordinated collection efforts with sales force
• Reviewed terms of sales, service, or credit contract
• Sorted and filed correspondence
Job Tasks and Responsibilities
· represent us in US/Canada region
· review and verify invoices and check requests
· set invoices up for payment
· track expenses and process expense reports
· prepare and process electronic transfers and payments
· prepare and perform check runs
· post transactions to journals, ledgers and other records
· reconcile accounts payable transactions
· prepare analysis of accounts
The time required will be 10-15 mins of your time 2-3 times weekly. Your point of contact would be either phone calls and eMail. There will be no travel involve and if there is, all expenses will be provided by Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. Your reimbursement of 5% will be deducted from every payment received and your monthly salary $5,000 US will be sent out to you by Otsuka Pharmaceuitcal Co., Ltd at the end of your first working month with us. All payment made to you by our customers, will be solemnly controlled by you.
Sincerely,
Susan Kei,
Senior Recruiter
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Copyright ©2016 Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. ©2016 Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
June 13, 2016 at 7:42 pm, Susan Cornell said:
I received a similar approach through LinkedIn . The name being used was Chitnasu Yatsun, Recruitment Manager, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd giving the correct address for that company in Tokyo
June 07, 2017 at 10:13 pm, Barbara Ritthaler said:
I received the same letter:
Dear Ritthaler,
I’m Otsuka Ltd regional Recruitment Manager, we are searching for reliable person/company who will be hire as a Financial Representative and Ordering of Product for Customers within Canada. ADEL Group Ltd has a high demand of our products in your region and we are contacting you if interested in this position? Ritthaler, your linkedin profile has demo-straight your level of skills and experience, i am sure you will be good for this position as it attract lot of benefits,good salary and it a side job, if interested please contact HR for more information on Email: [email protected]
Do not send me any message because it only the HR department who can provide as much as use information needed. Kindly email them.
Kind Regards,
Mrs. Natsumi Hiromi
Recruitment Manager
Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd
2-9, Kanda Tsukasa-machi, Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo 101-8535, Japan
Tel: +81345790715 Ext. 101
Fax: +801345790715
Email: [email protected]
September 13, 2021 at 8:24 am, Denis Leftakis said:
Received same solicitation through my LinkedIn account on the 7th of September 2021 from a fake LinkedIn account to the name of fumihiro goku. Be warned they are still trying this scam
Here is a contract they sent me that I will never sign.
Kuniaki Natsume
President
Otsuka Electronics Co., Ltd
October 08, 2021 at 6:50 am, Thiago said:
I received a contact on Linkedin by Sota Jiro, HR Manager of Ostuka Eletronics CO. Ask me to send an email.
After this the president make a job proposal U$5,000 plus 3% in each check deposited.
They sign:
Kuniaki Natsume
President
Otsuka Electronics Co., Ltd
October 11, 2021 at 10:54 am, Marco Herrera said:
I also received a string of emails from a Satoshi Natsu and later from Kuniaki Natsume of Otsuka Electronics. It all sounded too good to be true so I did some research and never signed the MOU.
October 15, 2021 at 5:57 pm, A. Ro said:
I’m glad all of you posted this warning and that I found it! I also received a request through LinkedIn on Oct. 15, 2021 claiming to be from Fumihiro Goku. Because it looked suspicious, I blocked it and sent the profile to LinkedIn as spam. Unfortunately, they indicated, “Our Trust & Safety Team reviewed Fumihiro Goku’s message thoroughly, and found it did not violate our Professional Community Policies…” I guess LinkedIn doesn’t consider fake profiles as a violation. I hope other users don’t get scammed!