Three men accused of coaching company employees to file false injury insurance claims were arrested on suspicion of fraud, the Metropolitan Police Department's investigative division 2 said. The three were arrested in October, each suspected of running a separate operation teaching people how to cheat insurers.
The suspects are Mizutsu Hiromasa, 35, a company executive from Kita Ward, Tokyo; Yamaguchi Shin, 50, a sole proprietor from Fukaya, Saitama Prefecture; and Oshino Masamitsu, 30, a company executive from Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima Prefecture. Police have not disclosed whether any of them admit or deny the allegations.
Between December 2024 and August 2025, the three are suspected of conspiring with company employees in their 40s and 50s to claim falsely that they had been injured, defrauding insurers of between 90,000 and 180,000 yen each. Investigators believe each suspect acted as an independent instructor rather than working together.
Recruited through side-job ads
According to police, the three recruited people to carry out the claims through social media posts advertising "side work" and through monthly-fee online salons. They are suspected of sending insurers' lists and claim procedures to those who contacted them, and of teaching them to claim for injuries that did not happen.
The employees who signed up took out several injury policies, as instructed, and filed claims with descriptions such as falling during basketball and spraining a wrist, or a child running out while they were cycling and causing them to fall and hurt a shoulder and lower back. They applied for reimbursement for osteopathic clinic visits, receiving 3,000 yen per visit for the maximum 30 visits.
A senior investigator said the instructors were targeting small injury policies, which do not require a doctor's certificate and for which clinic attendance is effectively self-reported. The three suspects filed claims with 10 insurers in total.
Mizutsu took 300,000 to 400,000 yen from each person who carried out a claim as an initial "support fee", while the other two had half of the paid-out insurance money sent to them in prepaid envelopes or by bank transfer. Since 2024, more than 200 people have paid a total of 80 million yen into Mizutsu's account, and transfers of about 10 million yen each from dozens of people have been confirmed for Yamaguchi and Oshino.
Fraud not seen as a crime
The payment records indicate that many people followed the instructions and filed false claims. Behind that lies a weak awareness that insurance fraud is a criminal offense.
In a survey of 2,535 people aged 16 to 69 across Japan conducted by the General Insurance Association of Japan in February, 41% said they agreed or somewhat agreed with the statement "I was surprised to learn that insurance fraud is a crime." In a separate survey of 7,009 people in March, fewer than 60% of respondents in their 10s and 20s cited criminal punishment as a concern if they committed insurance fraud. Across all ages the figure was 65%, showing the sense of wrongdoing is thin regardless of generation.
An investigator said the people who carried out the frauds included employees of well-known companies. "They probably knew it was wrong, but thought it was a gray area, and the money blinded them," the investigator said.
The association shares information with insurers about policyholders who file suspicious claims repeatedly, and has warned that such fraud is subject to criminal punishment and liability for damages.