Public utility infrastructure providers in Japan prepare various payment methods to reduce the burden of payers in order to avoid payers’ overdue charges.
There are basically 5 types of payment method such as paying by credit card, paying at a convenience store, paying at a bank, paying at a post office and direct debit.
Those who don’t want to be billed later on the structure of the credit card system or can’t make a credit card for some reasons may choose to pay utility charges at a convenience store by cash.
Fraudulent incidents that threaten our payment procedure at a convenience store has been reported on TV news some time. For those who suffered damage, it is not known exactly why but demand letters reached to the people who already completed the payment at a convenience store. In the worst case, some people had either one of gas, electricity or water cut off without knowing anything.
Contents
Embezzlement of payment receiving from a customer by a staff of a convenience store
Actually, there have been complaints about the troubles of receiving a demand letter and having those energies cut off from people who knew nothing about from 10 years ago.
As it turns out, a staff put customer’s payment into a pocket without putting it in a cash register.
Unless going through a procedure of direct debit, every one of household no-exceptionally receives this bill from public utility providers that you contract with. Where you can pay utility charges with this bill is a bank, a post office, and a convenience store. Generally, people take this to a convenience store for payment.
In July 2017, it was reported that former staff of an affiliated store of one of the major convenience stores, “Lawson”, embezzled over 1 million yen from costumer’s payment of utility charges.
One page of the homepage of Lawson described apologies for the incident, titled “Apologetic notice for embezzlement by former staff of an affiliated store ”
This time, embezzlement by a former staff in an affiliated store, located in Sakai-shi. Osaka, when receiving payment from a customer, was detected.
We would like to express our deepest apologies for the trouble this time. We take this incident seriously and put all our effort to take preventive measure and strengthen management and a security system for receiving agent services to win back trust.
In addition, this staff has already been resigned from the convenience store and we reported this crime to the Nishi-Sakai police department.
People in twitter, who suffered damage
コンビニで公共料金着服された疑いがあるのだが…
— ロイ (@tkipkof) 2018年9月26日
I doubt my utility payment was embezzled
水道局からまえに払った水道代を督促状で、請求された…
調べたら、コンビニ店員による公共料金の着服はよくあるらしい。
控えも捨ててしまったし困ったなあ#二重請求 #水道料金— makoto (@zokimakoto) 2018年8月29日
I received a demand letter about water bill which I have already paid from water department. When I searched, embezzlement of public utility payment by a convenience staff seems to be something that happens often. I threw away the payment receipt… What should I do…
郵便局で公共料金払ったはずなのに支払い請求が来たの着服か何か？
— 古谷 (@yodhock) 2018年8月30日
I am pretty sure I paid my utility charges at a post office. But, I received utility charge bills again. Is is embezzlement or something?
Why does it happen?
It is not really easy for any staffs to embezzle money from customer’s payment which they once received and put into a cash register because of strict management system in a convenience store.
When paying utility charges with a bill at a convenience store, staff will lead you to touch the “OK” button displayed on the screen.
After you touch the screen, the cash register’s payment process cannot be completed until the staff put a displayed amount of money into a cash register after receiving payment from you. This system is all for avoidance from staff’s fraud with a cash register.
But, why did it happen under the perfect payment receipt system? This is probably because the staff received customer’s cash while he didn’t read the barcode on purpose.
Basically, staff will check if the number of customers’ paying slips and the number of customer’s payment data recorded in a cash register match together. The reason why a former staff was able to get past a cash register’s security system and other staff’s check was that he didn’t scan the barcode of customer’s pay slip in the first place.
Things you pay attention to to avoid fraudulent act by staff
When you pay utility charges at a convenience store, you are said to touch the “OK” button displayed on the screen. You are sure to touch it.
After payment, payslip that you bring is separated into two. You receive half the split with a red stamp, which shows your payment is done. The above example picture is half the payslip that you receive from the staff.
And you also receive a tiny square receipt that you transact payment at a convenience store. You must keep it in a safe place.
Just in case you lose a pay slip and a receipt, you should take a picture of it with your smartphone.