A Japanese octogenarian was defrauded of thousands of dollars after falling in love online with a man claiming to be an astronaut who asked for her help to resolve a spaceship emergency, police reported Tuesday. The woman, residing on Hokkaido island in northern Japan, met the fraudster in July through social media. A local police officer described the case as a \u201cromance scam.\u201d After exchanging messages for some time, the scammer told her he was \u201ccurrently in space on a spaceship\u201d but \u201cunder attack and running out of oxygen,\u201d according to the official. He then asked her to transfer money online to help him purchase oxygen, successfully tricking her into sending roughly 1 million yen ($6,700). Living alone, the woman reportedly developed romantic feelings for the man as their online conversations continued, local media including Hokkaido Broadcasting reported, citing investigative sources. \u201cIf anyone you meet online ever requests money, be cautious of possible scams and report the matter to the police,\u201d the official warned. Japan has the world’s second-oldest population after tiny Monaco, according to the World Bank, and older people frequently fall prey to various forms of organised fraud. These include the classic “it’s me” scam, where perpetrators impersonate family members in trouble to extract money from the victim. Elderly people can also be cajoled into using ATMs to get non-existent “refunds” of their insurance premiums or pensions, police have warned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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