Employees of homebuilder Tamahome filed fraudulent fire insurance claims, and several non-life insurers are now demanding that the company carry out a further investigation, according to people familiar with the matter.
The insurers are checking the details of the claims themselves while pressing Tamahome to look into how the filings were made, the sources said.
At a Tamahome branch in western Japan, staff reused photographs taken for separate claims to make it appear an incident had occurred, and inflated repair costs in other filings.
The fraudulent claims are believed to run to at least several hundred cases.
A builder that also sells the policies
Tamahome builds custom homes and carries out renovations. It also acts as an agent selling fire insurance and other residential policies.
That dual role leaves the company on both sides of the claims it handles, and the insurers' demand for a wider inquiry puts the scrutiny on a builder listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.