[15th June 2012]
NEWS FLASH: KENYANS CAN USE A NEW PROCEEDURE TO RECOVER STOLEN FUNDS FROM CAR FRAUD!
The Embassy has now learnt that there is a new law in Japan which can be exploited by fraud victims to recover funds from used car fraudsters. The Law for Dividend Damage Recovery contains measures that can greatly help the victims of fraud in Japan. The legal procedures came into effect in June 2008.
Legal analysts believe that the main purpose of the above law is to help victims of fraud to recover their monies (damages) from alleged criminals in a faster and efficient manner for speedier justice. The result is that the new law is purely civil in nature as it only targets aid to victims of fraud but with the result that it lacks criminal procedures for the offender. However, the requisite criminal investigations or prosecution which is not part of this law must be dealt with within the relevant criminal procedure.
In order for victims to benefit from the law, they must be in a position to take prompt action by reporting a potential fraud immediately the victim suspects they have been lured into a potentially fraudulent transaction!
We have therefore outlined the following features of this law in the hope that any Kenyan who may in future fall victim of online used motor vehicle fraudsters will take advantage of this new law to recover their monies from fraudsters:
- The victim must report to both the Japanese Police and the Bank to which the victim has wired their funds. This should happen immediately the victim suspects that he/she is dealing with fraudsters
- Under "The Law for Dividend Damage Recovery" the bank is authorized to immediately take measures to freeze the concerned account to prevent the fraudsters from accessing victim's funds pending further investigation by the police. Once the Bank and Police are satisfied that a fraudulent transaction has taken place, the law allows the Bank the possibility of wiring back such funds to the victim so as to recover their losses (damage) under this law.
- Importantly, fraud victims must use the correct reporting procedures. This entails them going to their own Bank first (from which they wired the cash) and reporting the fraud to that Bank. Based on evidence and the Bank's own records, the sending Bank should raise an official complaint on behalf of the victim to the receiving Bank as well as to the Police (or INTERPOL in case the fraud is transnational in nature). This step is extremely important because such suspected fraudulent receipts can only be remitted back to the Bank which sent the monies in the first place. That is all the more reason that one will need to make his application to the same bank in order to ensure that you will receive (recover) back your funds from the same institution.
- Kenyan businessmen should also kindly note that "The Law for Dividend Damage Recovery" is applicable to a wide range of fraud cases.
