Reports of home renovation fraud have been coming out of the woodwork ever since the media reported that two elderly sisters with dementia were duped for 50 million yen in unnecessary repair work and almost lost their home in an auction to pay for the scam.
Like the Saitama Prefecture sisters, aged 80 and 78, many victims of repair scams are senior citizens who live alone and are targeted by slick salespeople from renovation firms.
On Thursday, the National Police Agency reported that the number of people victimized by home-renovation fraud reached about 8,200 nationwide in the first half of the year, with total damages hitting 11.9 billion yen.