#Japan #Tokyo #adcheki #impersonation ads #Kokoaru

Introduction

In the digital age, where social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook dominate communication, a disturbing trend has surfaced. Impersonation advertisements and phishing scams using the likeness of celebrities have dramatically increased, presenting significant risks to brands and consumers alike. Amidst this concerning landscape, Kokoaru LLC has announced the launch of their innovative B2B SaaS, "adcheki," set to rollout in February 2025.

Background

The rise in impersonation scams correlates with alarming statistics. According to the Consumer Affairs Agency, reports of phishing scams using celebrity images surged tripled in 2024. Such impersonation poses not only financial risks but also severe consequences for corporate branding and consumer trust.

Features of 'adcheki'

'adcheki' offers a multi-faceted approach to tackling this issue. Here are some of its standout features:

• - 24/7 Monitoring Across Eight Platforms: Utilizing advanced AI algorithms, 'adcheki' continuously monitors key social media platforms such as X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn, as well as web platforms and Google Ads.

• - Automatic Impersonation Detection: The system is capable of identifying similar handles, such as "@brandname" vs. "@brandnarne," and typographical squatting domain names. Each detection comes with a risk score from 0 to 100% based on its potential threat level.

• - Legal Evidence Preservation: All detected instances are saved in an unalterable format, including screenshots and metadata timestamps, which can easily be compiled into a legal evidence pack for attorneys.

• - Semi-Automatic Deletion Requests: The platform generates templates for official deletion requests for various platforms, drastically reducing the time spent on this process.

• - Official Reporting Channels: 'adcheki' facilitates the creation of reporting pages that businesses can integrate into their websites or social media profiles to collect consumer reports automatically.

Real-life Impersonation Damage Cases

The damage caused by impersonation is evident across various sectors. Recent headlines have highlighted significant cases:

• - Investment Scams: In 2024, social media investment scams resulted in losses of approximately 87.1 billion yen across 6,413 reports, averaging 13.65 million yen per case.

• - High-profile Legal Battles: Notable figures, such as entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa, have taken legal action against violent impersonation leads on Facebook and Instagram.

Cost-Effectiveness of Implementing 'adcheki'

Implementing 'adcheki' could significantly streamline the response time for deletion requests—from 3-5 hours down to just 15 minutes. The preservation risk for crucial evidence drops to nearly zero, and the early detection capability can lead to loss avoidance rates of approximately 70% to 90%. With a yearly subscription of 1.8 million yen for the Pro plan, users can foresee up to 40 times the return on investment.

Hidden Costs of Ignoring Impersonation

Failure to address impersonation results in intensive indirect costs, which can accumulate substantially over time for mid-sized businesses. These losses can arise from:

• - Brand damage (5 million to 30 million yen)
• - Customer attrition (2 million to 10 million yen)
• - Increased customer support demands (1 million to 3 million yen)
• - Legal costs (1.5 million to 5 million yen)
• - Internal resource wastage (1 million to 4 million yen)
• - Diminished advertising effectiveness (3 million to 20 million yen)
• - Compliance risks (0.5 million to several million yen)

The total potential indirect losses could exceed 140 million yen in a year.

Pricing Plans

'adcheki' offers various pricing tiers:

• - Lite Plan: 50,000 yen/month for startups (monitoring two platforms).
• - Pro Plan: 150,000 yen/month for growing companies (monitoring up to four platforms).
• - Enterprise Plan: 300,000 yen/month for large operations (monitoring all eight platforms).

Discounts are available for annual contracts.

In addition to standard features, add-on options like night support and additional sheet management are also available.

Target Audience

'adcheki' is particularly aimed at brand protection departments in companies, legal professionals, and sectors like entertainment, finance, and real estate, which are frequent targets for fraudulent advertisements.

Future Developments

Looking ahead, 'adcheki' plans to enhance its system by integrating support for Meta's advertising library, offering multilingual support (including English and Chinese), and providing a one-stop solution for legal measures in collaboration with law firms by the end of 2026.

Company Overview

• - Company Name: Kokoaru LLC
• - Location: 1-1-14 Shimo Meguro, Meguro-ku, Tokyo
• - Representative: Kohta Kondo
• - Established: December 2025
• - Business Description: Development and operations of the "adcheki" software for combating impersonation advertisements
• - Website: adcheki
• - Contact: [email protected]