Oita Prefecture announces fraudulent use of 11.3 million yen in travel support business|Criminal charges against accommodation facilities and related parties

Oita Prefecture held a press conference on Wednesday, September 27, 2023, to announce that it has filed criminal charges against two accommodation facilities in Beppu City and four related parties due to allegations of fraudulent use of approximately 11.3 million yen in the electronic coupon "Oita Enjoyment" issued to users of the nationwide travel support project "New Oita Travel Discount".

An e-coupon of up to 2,000 yen will be issued when the user scans the QR code of the flyer received at the accommodation facility with a dedicated app. This app was developed by a company in Fukuoka and is used by various local governments. In addition, in consideration of the amount of flyers on hand, it was stipulated that accommodation facilities would order additional flyers from the secretariat of the travel support business (travel agencies in the prefecture) from the dedicated site.

The fraud was discovered in April this year, and the investigation began when the prefectural government received a report from the secretariat about the suspicion of fraudulent use of coupons. Subsequently, a large number of flyers that did not match the size of the two accommodation facilities in Beppu City were ordered, and it turned out that 11.3 million yen worth of electronic coupons were issued from four accounts between January and April.

At a press conference, the prefecture also announced that there was unauthorized use of electronic coupons worth about 7.3 million yen at four other accommodation facilities in the prefecture. These four facilities admitted to the fact of fraud and received a full refund, and the prefecture did not file criminal charges. This time, the two accommodations and four people involved did not admit to fraud and did not respond to refunds, so the prefecture filed a criminal complaint.

Oita Prefecture's travel support project is running until October 31st. In response to a question from the editor, the prefecture said, "We overlooked early fraud in order to prioritize responding to the requests of accommodation facilities, and we will continue to conduct strict examinations." In addition, when I asked the app development company if fraud could be detected when issuing electronic coupons, he commented, "I don't know the background yet, so I can't talk about anything."

On January 3, Oita Prefecture and the secretariat held a briefing session on e-coupons for accommodation facilities.