Elderly woman loses ¥1 million to romance scammer posing as astronaut running out of oxygen in space

Summary

An 80-year-old woman in Japan was scammed by a man who pretended to be an astronaut in a romance fraud. The scammer met her on social media in July and developed a close online relationship. He later claimed to be in space and running out of oxygen, convincing her to send money for oxygen supplies. Between mid-July and August, she sent the scammer nearly 1 million yen ($6,700) through five convenience stores in Sapporo. The woman admitted she had developed romantic feelings for the scammer, which led her to comply with his requests. After realizing she had been scammed, she informed her family, who reported the incident to the police in the Teine district.