On March 2, 2017 in Hiroshima, the Hiroshima Prefecture Consumers Co-operative Union in collaboration with Hiroshima Prefecture Liaison Committee of Consumer Organization co-organized the "2016 Seminar on Preventing Consumer Damage".

Two lectures were given under separate themes by resource persons from the Hiroshima Prefectural Police Headquarters and Hiroshima Consumer Affairs Center who spoke on "The current situation and countermeasures of special fraud targeting individuals" and "Trends in Consultation on Consumer Damage and Advice from Consultants" respectively.

It was reported that in recent years special fraud targeting individuals has become increasingly sophisticated with 348 cases in Hiroshima Prefecture in 2016 causing damage of about 1 billion JPY.