Nikkei Workers Overcharged Advertisers Tens of Millions of Yen
Tokyo, Sept. 16 (Jiji Press)--Japanese newspaper publisher Nikkei Inc. said its sales employees had overcharged two companies for advertising fees by inflating circulation numbers for an advertising booklet and fraudulently received several tens of millions of yen from each company. The advertising booklet in question is The Nikkei Magazine, a morning newspaper insert, with the misconduct i...
Japanese newspaper publisher Nikkei Inc. has disclosed that its sales staff defrauded two companies out of several tens of millions of yen by falsely inflating circulation numbers for their advertising booklet, The Nikkei Magazine. The fraudulent activity spanned 29 issues distributed in the Tokyo metropolitan area and Kansai region between 2022 and 2026.
For each issue, the employees falsely reported circulation figures ranging from 15,000 to 250,000 copies higher than the actual numbers, thereby charging the advertisers accordingly. The overstated circulation reached approximately 2.5 million copies over the four-year period. The deception was exposed after the advertisers noticed discrepancies.
Nikkei enlisted an external attorney to investigate the motive and determine if any organizational involvement occurred.
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