"My Parents Don't Use the Internet" Is the Wrong Assumption

Good evening. This is Shemihaza, your Sentinel. Today is Respect for the Aged Day in Japan.

On 16 September 2026 the National Consumer Affairs Center published "Consumer consultations from people aged 65 and over, FY2025". One set of figures in it is worth your attention today.

Consultations where the contracting party was 65 or over came to 330,497 in FY2025, up about 25,800 from 304,674 the year before, and 37.7% of all consultations.

What matters here is not the count. It is that the entry point you should worry about depends on how old your parents are.

"My parents don't use the internet, so they're fine." If your parents are aged 65 to 69, that assumption points the wrong way.

The entry point swaps over with age

Taking the centre's breakdown by sales format as written:

the share of mail-order consultations is highest in the 65-to-69 band and falls as age rises, while door-to-door sales, telemarketing sales and door-to-door purchasing all rise with age — and at 85 and over, door-to-door sales overtakes mail order to become the largest share.

In other words, among people aged 65 to 69, mail order has the largest share of consultations. Note that the centre's "mail order" category covers catalogue and TV ordering as well as online shopping, so this is not a figure about the internet alone.

Read that carefully. These are shares of all consultations, not a rate of how many people in each group get caught, and the counts cover PIO-NET registrations up to 31 July 2026.

What it does support is this: "older parents only need to watch the door and the phone" does not hold for parents aged 65 to 69.

What the consultations are actually about

By product and service, the centre lists the top items as "goods in general" — which it glosses as suspicious phone calls and bills for things never bought — followed by cosmetics, health foods and medicines, tied to recurring purchases. By sales method, it notes that online shopping and subscription purchases account for many of the consultations.

The average contract value was about 730,000 yen, and the average amount already paid about 510,000 yen.

Today this article takes the first of those: bills for things nobody bought. We covered recurring purchases in [an earlier article](https://forsmile.jp/en/articles/subscription-trap-trial-purchase-20260916).

How a fictitious bill arrives

The centre's page on fictitious billing, updated 27 May 2026, describes the method concretely.

• ▸1. Sent in bulk from a purchased list. Baseless demands are sent at random by postcard or email. The centre's view is that these are not aimed at any particular individual.
• ▸2. Loaded with intimidating language. "We will come to your home", "we will investigate your employer", "seizure of wages and property in the presence of a court officer", "compulsory execution", "registration with a credit information agency".
• ▸3. Using the name of a real company. Demands arrive as charges for content usage fees and similar. A familiar company name is exactly what makes it believable.
• ▸4. A "final notice of litigation" designed to make you call. A postcard arrives with wording such as "final notice of litigation regarding consumption fees". It says that unless you call the number, litigation or seizure will proceed — and people who do call are then charged a "fee to withdraw the lawsuit".

The centre records cases where someone thought "maybe I did use this", called the number printed on the demand, and ended up paying during the exchange. In those cases that ended in payment, the first step was the recipient placing the call.

What to do, and what never to do

• ✓Never call the number on the demand. The centre's wording is that you should "never contact" it. Even if you are unsure whether you used the service, do not call.
• ✓Give away nothing further. A postcard means they already have a name and address; an email or SMS means they have an address or number. If they learn something new, the centre expects demands to follow by a different route.
• ✓Consult a consumer centre before paying anything. If you cannot tell whether it is fake, or you are worried, do not contact the sender and do not pay first — consult. Japan's consumer hotline is 188 (no area code).
• ✓Do not ignore anything that looks like a court payment demand or a small-claims summons. Judging whether such a document is genuine is difficult, so consult a consumer centre immediately. Court jurisdictions and contacts can be checked on the courts' own website. This is the one case where ignoring it is not the right answer.
• ✓Keep the evidence. Retain the postcard, envelope or email.
• ✓Report aggressive collection attempts to the police. While you are still unsure whether it is a scam, use #9110, Japan's nationwide non-emergency police consultation line. If you are in immediate danger, call 110.

There is one more place to ask, as of 14 September 2026

On 14 September 2026 the National Consumer Affairs Center opened a site called Consumer Trouble Resolution Navi. It is described as supporting people who are already in difficulty, with two roles.

One is helping you resolve it yourself, through an FAQ of information useful for resolving trouble. The other is directing you to a consultation desk, listing consumer centres across Japan when self-resolution is not realistic. For desks that accept web-form consultations, you can apply through the site itself.

That matters for anyone who finds phone calls hard, or cannot call during the day. Bookmarking it on a parent's phone today is a reasonable thing to do.

What you can do together today

• ✓Agree a rule: "if a bill arrives for something you don't recognise, call me first." Fixing one contact point is more reliable than teaching someone to recognise every variant.
• ✓Save 188 and #9110 in their phone's contacts. Then nobody has to remember a number.
• ✓Bookmark Consumer Trouble Resolution Navi. Simply knowing there is somewhere to look without making a phone call makes it less likely they carry it alone.
• ✓Ask about their online shopping without making it a reprimand. Ages 65 to 69 have the highest share of mail-order consultations. Do not open the conversation assuming they don't shop online.
• ✓If they say they already paid, do not react with blame. You can still consult after paying. Blame is what makes the next one go unmentioned — and that is the dangerous outcome.

Three lines to forward to your family

• ▸If an SMS or postcard says you have an unpaid charge and must respond today, never call the number printed on it. That holds even when a well-known company's name is on it.
• ▸Before paying anything, call me or Japan's consumer hotline 188 (no area code). If you think it may be fraud, #9110 is the police advice line. Neither requires you to have lost money first.
• ▸The one exception to "ignore it" is anything that looks like a court payment demand. Do not decide that one yourself — get advice straight away.

If it has already happened

Even if you are thinking "oh no", working through it in order is enough. There is nothing to be embarrassed about.

The lines below are for people in Japan. Consumer hotline: 188 (no area code) covers contracts and billing. You can still consult after paying.

Police advice line: #9110 is the nationwide number for non-emergency police consultation — usable while you are unsure, and equally after money has gone. If you are in immediate danger, call 110.

And as of today there is also [Consumer Trouble Resolution Navi](https://www.consumer.go.jp/pio).