Imoto's WiFi sold 'Satisfaction No.1' — the survey behind it verified no one

Imoto's WiFi, the overseas travel rental-WiFi service run by Excom Global, told Japanese travellers it was number one. Its website and two editions of the Chikyū no Arukikata (Globe-Trotter) guidebooks — Indonesia 2020–21 and Germany 2023–24 — carried displays claiming 'Customer Satisfaction No.1', 'No.1 Chosen by Overseas Travelers' and 'Customer Service Satisfaction No.1'. The claims had been running since February 2020. The survey behind them, the Consumer Affairs Agency found, did not verify that any respondent had actually used the services being ranked.

The methodology was thinner still: only nine operators, arbitrarily selected as comparison targets, and respondents were asked about their impressions of websites rather than actual use. The displays also cited the surveys inaccurately. Japan's CAA had already issued a cease-and-desist measure order on 1 March 2024 against the same displays as misleading representations under the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations — and the violations continued.

On 12 March 2026 the CAA therefore ordered Excom Global to pay a surcharge of 172,620,000 yen: 3% of the 5,754,289,344 yen in sales recorded between 22 June 2023 and 21 June 2026, payable by 13 October 2026. The displays had run continuously from 12 February 2020 until 7 May 2026 — through the 2024 measure order, which had already mandated that they stop, that consumers be notified, and that recurrence be prevented. The surcharge added the financial penalty to those obligations.