Photo/Illutration The head office of Amway Japan in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward (Hiroki Koizumi)

The Consumer Affairs Agency issued a partial business suspension order of six months to Amway Japan for illegally recruiting a new member under its network marketing system.

It marked the first time for Amway Japan to receive an administrative order about its sales practices.

According to the agency’s Oct. 14 announcement, two members met a woman through a matching app in March 2021 and pestered her to register without explaining it was for membership in Amway Japan.

The woman agreed, fearing she would be late returning home if she didn’t. But no document was presented to the woman until she signed the contract.

The agency found four violations by the two Amway Japan members in their recruiting drive: They failed to divulge their names; they did not reveal what the recruitment was for and the pitch was not made in a public space; they were found to have harassed the woman in recruiting her; and failed to exchange the required documents with her.

The agency also found two other cases of illegal soliciting using social media.

According to sources, the case attracted the attention of the Consumer Affairs Agency after Kyoto prefectural police mounted a criminal investigation in 2021.

Amway Japan and its members will be prohibited over the six-month period from recruiting new members or proposing and signing contracts for multilevel marketing sales.

Amway Japan pledged in a statement to implement effective measures to improve operations and prevent a recurrence.

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