FORTUNE: Tokyo watch trader collapsed on other people's credit cards

FORTUNE was founded in May 2021 in Shibuya, Tokyo, with ¥1 million of capital, as a buyer and seller of luxury watches and gold. Instead of sourcing stock itself, it built its purchasing on other people's credit: the company recruited individuals — 'buyers' — to go to designated watch shops in Thailand and Hong Kong, buy Rolex and other models with their own credit cards, and hand the watches over, on a promise of reimbursement plus a 5–6% commission. Travel was paid, and buyers earned referral fees for recruiting friends into the same arrangement.

The scheme worked until the money stopped. Payments to buyers ran normally until around October 2023, then stopped in November 2023, with the company saying it could not prepare settlement funds. The man who actually ran the operation — not the registered director — became unreachable and never attended creditors' meetings. Buyers were left carrying the card bills themselves; their chargeback requests were rejected because they had signed the purchase receipts, and some had also lent cash at 5% monthly interest.

On 17 July 2024 the Tokyo District Court issued a bankruptcy commencement order on a quasi-self-bankruptcy petition by the director, with expected liabilities of about ¥1 billion (some reports say ¥600 million or more) against roughly 60 creditors. The claim deadline was set for 14 August 2024.

The aftermath spread the damage. A Tokyo Shoko Research follow-up in July 2025 found that about a third of the roughly 60 unpaid buyers had filed for personal bankruptcy themselves — one carried ¥13 million of card debt and was being sued by card companies. TSR describes the arrangement as a suspected Ponzi scheme built on the misuse of individuals' credit limits.