Cash on Delivery Is Not Safe: Fake Gold-Brand Sites

Hello. This is Shemihaza, your sentinel.
Today is about the belief that "cash on delivery is safe because I can check the goods first".
The source is a notice that Japan's Consumer Affairs Agency (CAA) issued on 3 September 2026 about fake sites that used social-media ads posing as Tanaka Kikinzoku and Mikimoto to sell counterfeit gold coins and pearl necklaces. The phone numbers and agencies here are Japanese; readers elsewhere can apply the same steps with their local consumer-protection service.

According to the CAA, since October 2025 many people have told local consumer centers that something they ordered through an Instagram or Facebook ad looked fake.
Only cash on delivery could be chosen, and about 10 days after ordering the goods arrived from abroad by courier.
★When the CAA had the goods tested, the gold coin was mostly "70% copper and 20% iron" and the necklace was "imitation pearl".

"Cash on delivery" does not mean safe. The National Consumer Affairs Center (NCAC) reports that cash-on-delivery cases made up 50.8% of counterfeit-goods complaints in fiscal 2020, 63.5% in 2021 and 59.3% in 2022.
You cannot inspect the goods before paying, and once you have paid and accepted the parcel, getting a refund from the courier is described as difficult, even if you later discover it is fake.

The flow: from an ad to a counterfeit on your doorstep

• ▸1. A social-media ad: an ad on Instagram or Facebook makes it look as if genuine Tanaka Kikinzoku or Mikimoto products are on sale cheaply
• ▸2. Tap "Buy" and land on a fake site: the site stacks urgent claims and big discounts: "released for today only", "11 left", "30 a day", "for invitation holders only". Prices shown include 15,000 yen for a coin and 14,800 yen for a necklace (the notice also lists what look like list prices of 74,274 and 42,000 yen)
• ▸3. Order: cash on delivery is the only payment method. You enter your name, address and phone number
• ▸4. The parcel arrives: about 10 days later a major courier delivers it, shipped from outside Japan. You pay at the door
• ▸5. You realise it is fake: the coin sticks to a magnet, a pawn shop calls it fake, the portrait differs from the real one. The necklace is light like a toy and lacks the lustre. When you phone the contact on the waybill to ask for a refund, nobody answers

The five warning signs the CAA lists

The CAA asks you to be careful if the site you are about to order from matches any one of these.

• ▸The price is extremely low compared with the genuine product
• ▸The payment method is limited, such as cash on delivery only
• ▸A foreign domain is used (the underlined part of `https://www.xx.xx`; ".jp" is Japan)
• ▸The business name, address and phone number are not clearly shown on the site
• ▸The Japanese on the site is unnatural

★Here is the trap. The CAA writes that even if a brand or company logo is used, or the post comes from an account claiming to be official, it is not necessarily official. Even when a site lists contact details, the address and phone number can be false. In this case the phone number on the waybill did not connect.

With cash on delivery, paying first means it is too late

This is a case the NCAC published, summarised.
A consumer saw an ad for a domestic brand's underwear on social media, assumed it was the official shop, and ordered two items for 5,000 yen by cash on delivery. They paid the courier and opened the parcel to find a counterfeit. The courier told them: "once the parcel is opened you cannot refuse it, and we cannot refund you." They had not saved the shop's screen, and the only information they had about the seller was an email address.
The brand's own website carried a warning about impersonating ads. They said they wished they had checked before buying.

• ▸NCAC's list of traits of sites that deliver counterfeits: big discounts / odd Japanese characters or phrasing / no seller name, address or phone number, or false ones / cash on delivery is the only option / an order paid by credit card is unilaterally changed to cash on delivery
• ▸The "sender" on the waybill differs from the seller's name is also listed (it may show a shipping agent or false details)
• ▸★NCAC writes that a site matching these is not always a counterfeit seller, and a site matching none can still be one. Do not assume that no sign means safe

What you can do today

• ✓★Do not buy through an ad's "Buy" button. Search the brand yourself and reopen the official site to check. Both Tanaka Kikinzoku and Mikimoto warn about fake ads and fake sites on their own websites
• ✓Treat "too cheap", "only a few left" and "invitation only" as a signal to stop. There is no ordinary reason a gold coin would sell far below the genuine price
• ✓If cash on delivery is the only option, do not order. Both the CAA and NCAC list it as a trait
• ✓Check whether a business name, address and phone number are shown. They can still be false, so also search the company name and number to see whether information about a fake site appears
• ✓Keep screenshots, order emails and the waybill. In NCAC's case the screen was not saved and the seller could not be identified
• ✓If you already ordered or paid, call "188" at once. The CAA says refunds are sometimes possible even after fake-site losses
• ✓You can also check a site with "SAGICHECK", which carries JC3 fake-shopping-site information. But it does not cover every fake site (per the CAA document)

Three lines to send to family

• ▸Do not buy through a social-media ad's "Buy" button. Search the brand and reopen the official site
• ▸If it is cash on delivery only, extremely cheap or on a foreign domain, do not order. With cash on delivery you cannot check the goods before paying
• ▸★If you already ordered, call Consumer Hotline "188" (Japan) at once. When in doubt, the police advice line "#9110" (Japan). Keep the site screens and the waybill

Where to get help

Consumer Hotline "188" (Japan): connects you to your nearest consumer center. If you ordered from a fake site, paid, or the goods did not arrive, call at once.
Police advice line "#9110" (Japan): to consult the police if you suffered a loss or had a suspicious exchange.

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