A woman was tricked for Rs 24 lakh by a scammer pretending to be an astronaut. The fake astronaut even promised to marry the woman once he landed on Earth.
Fake astronaut
A woman in Japan was fooled out of 4.4 million yen (Rs 24 lakh) by a scammer pretending to be an astronaut. Local media reported that the 65-year-old woman was tricked into believing that a man she met on Instagram was a Russian astronaut stuck on the International Space Station, unable to afford his way back home.
She was apparently taken in by his Instagram profile, which features photos of space, as well as his ability to name-drop space agencies like NASA and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency).
Romance scam
“Saying this 1,000 times won’t be enough, but I’ll keep saying it. I love you,” was one of the texts he sent her, reported TV Asahi.
It was just one of the many texts the two exchanged on the Japanese messaging app LINE, where the man repeatedly told the victim that he loved her and wanted to marry her. He informed her he wanted to start his life in Japan but he needed money for the “landing fees” and also to cover the cost of the rocket to fly back.
From August 19 to September 5, the victim paid him roughly Rs 24,69,891 in five installments, reported the Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun. The woman began to grow suspicious when the demands continued to come. She reported him to the police and as per local media reports, the case is being investigated as a romance scam.
