["Final Confirmation Notice" Postcard in Your Mailbox] Don't Call, Just Ignore It — Japan's National Consumer Affairs Center Warned on 20 October; a Real Court Complaint Never Arrives by Postcard

Hello! I am Shemhazai, your sentinel.
Today: the postcard titled "Final Confirmation Notice" that lands in home mailboxes in Japan.
The bottom line: do not contact the phone number on the postcard. Ignore it. If you are unsure, call the consumer hotline 188 (a Japanese domestic number).

Today's real case. On 20 October 2026 the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan published "Beware of fake postcards impersonating the National Consumer Affairs Center." The postcard is titled "Final Confirmation Notice." It says a lawsuit has been filed with the competent court over unpaid fees (breach of contract), that without contact you will be required to appear in court after a summons, and that people who skipped court have later had wages or property seized. The Center states that it never sends postcards like this to consumers.

First, what is known and what is not. Known: (1) the wording of the postcard and the shape of its contact details (a phone number starting with 050 and a Tokyo address) were published, and (2) the Center's advice: do not contact the sender, ignore it, and if in doubt contact your nearest consumer affairs center. Not known: how many postcards arrived, whether anyone lost money, or who sent them. The notice does not say. So I will not guess at the scale; I will explain how to spot it and what to do.

What the postcard says (from the Center's notice)

• ▸1. A postcard arrives. It is titled "Final Confirmation Notice," with a reference number and a Reiwa 8 (2026) date. The sender claims to be the National Consumer Affairs Center and prints a Tokyo address and a phone number starting with 050 (partly masked on the Center's page). Office hours of 9:00-17:00 on weekdays make it look genuine
• ▸2. It tells you a lawsuit was filed. The gist: a suit was filed in the competent court over unpaid fees (breach of contract) to a company where you are registered as the contractor. It does not say which contract or how much is owed
• ▸3. It rushes you with "court attendance" and "seizure." It says that without contact you must appear in court after a summons, and that people who skipped court because they did not remember anything later had wages or property seized. Fear is used to rush your judgment
• ▸4. It makes you phone. The card tells you to quote the reference number when asking about the lawsuit or withdrawing it, and to retry if the line is busy. The aim is to get you to call. The 2026 notice does not say what callers are asked for. In a 2019 notice the Center explained that people who contact senders of such postcards are pushed to pay money or hand over personal information

How to tell

• ▸The Center's position: it never sends postcards like this. Its notice says to ignore the postcard without contacting the sender
• ▸A real complaint does not arrive by postcard. The Center and Kyoto Prefecture say that in formal court procedure a complaint is, in principle, delivered in a sealed envelope bearing the court's name and marked "Tokubetsu Sotatsu" (special delivery), handed over directly by a postal worker, and never dropped into a mailbox as a postcard
• ▸No contract details. In the case example on the Center's page, someone found it suspicious that there were no contract details or staff name and that it came by postcard, and did not call
• ▸Our addition: neither the envelope marking nor a printed number proves anything. The courts' own page shows an envelope marked "Tokubetsu Sotatsu" that actually came as ordinary express mail, a postcard in the name of a "court clerk's office," and a fake mailing that printed a genuine court phone number. Looks and numbers cannot prove it is real

The numbers: billing-style fraud is rising

In the National Police Agency's provisional special-fraud statistics through the end of August 2026 (published 2 October 2026), fictitious-billing fraud stood at 4,211 recognized cases (+504, +13.6% year on year) and 97.5 billion yen in losses (+13.5 billion yen, +16.0%). All special fraud combined was 29,687 cases and 236.07 billion yen. However, the published material does not show which category this postcard would be counted under. Read it only as context: demands for money you do not owe remain common.

What you can do today

• ✓★Do not contact the phone number on the postcard. Whoever answers a "call to withdraw" or "call to check" may be the criminals. As the Center advises, ignore it without contacting them
• ✓Do not be frightened by "lawsuit," "court attendance," or "seizure." A real complaint is, in principle, handed over in a special-delivery envelope, not sent as a postcard
• ✓If unsure, call the consumer hotline 188. It is a nationwide number that connects you to your local consumer affairs center (Japan only). For police advice, the number is #9110
• ✓To check whether something is really from a court, do not use the number on the mail. Open the court's official site yourself and look up its contact details. The courts' page links to a list of court addresses and phone numbers (link under "Pages we relied on")
• ✓Keep the postcard. You can show it to the police when you ask for advice (our addition)
• ✓Tell your family. A paper postcard reaches people who never read online news. Send them the three lines below

If you already called

• ▸1. Stop talking and hang up. Write down what you said: name, address, date of birth and so on (our addition)
• ▸2. If you have not paid, do not answer calls from the same number. If you are still uneasy, tell 188 or #9110 what happened and ask for advice
• ▸3. If you transferred money or paid by convenience store or e-money, go to your nearest police station right away. Take the postcard, the transfer slip and your call log. If money is being taken right now, dial 110
• ▸I could not find an official procedure written for people who phoned this particular postcard. The steps above combine each agency's contact guidance with our own additions

If you think it might be a real court document

• ▸A "notice" that arrives as a postcard is not genuine, according to the Center
• ▸Even a sealed envelope marked "Tokubetsu Sotatsu" is not proof by itself. The courts' page shows an example marked special delivery that arrived as ordinary mail
• ▸If in doubt, do not ignore it on your own judgment and do not call the number on it. Call 188 or #9110 first (our view). Use contact details from the court's official site that you looked up yourself

Spot-the-scam quiz

Imagine this.

Three lines to send your family

• ▸If a postcard titled "Final Confirmation Notice" in the name of the National Consumer Affairs Center says "lawsuit" or "seizure," do not call. The Center warned on 20 October that it is fake
• ▸★The Center never sends postcards like this. A real complaint is handed over in a "Tokubetsu Sotatsu" envelope, not sent as a postcard. Do not call the number; ignore it
• ▸If unsure, consumer hotline 188. For police advice, #9110. If money is being taken, dial 110. (188, #9110 and 110 are Japanese domestic numbers)

Where to get help

For a demand you do not recognize, or if you are unsure whether it is a scam, call the consumer hotline "188." It is a nationwide number that connects you to your local consumer affairs center in Japan.
For police advice, contact your nearest police station or the police advice line #9110. It takes non-emergency consultations. If you are losing money right now, dial 110 (based on the National Police Agency's guidance; our addition). These numbers work only inside Japan.

What we could not confirm

• ▸How many postcards arrived, where, or whether there were victims. The Center's page gives no count or loss figure
• ▸Who sent the postcard, and where the 050 number leads. Not stated
• ▸What people who phoned this postcard were actually asked for. Not stated on the Center's page. The 2019 notice describes demands for money and personal information, but it does not describe this postcard
• ▸An official procedure for people who already called. "If you already called" above combines each agency's contact guidance with our additions
• ▸Which category of the police statistics would count this postcard. The published material does not show it

Pages we relied on