An 80-year-old woman in Japan sent the equivalent of $6,800 to a man she believed was an astronaut in orbit. He said he was low on oxygen. She thought they were in love.
Police in Hokkaido say the scam began in July after the woman met the man on social media. He claimed to be working for a space agency and told her he was stuck on a spacecraft circling Earth.
Eventually, he messaged her that his ship was “under attack” and he was running out of air. He said he needed money to stay alive. From a…space oxygen/gas station equivalent?
She sent it.
‘Astronaut’ Scams Woman Out of $6,800 by Claiming He Was Running Out of Oxygen
The request came in the form of electronic money, a common tool in fraud cases. Investigators say the woman had developed romantic feelings for the man by then and believed she was helping someone she cared about. It was only after the money was gone that she contacted the police.
This isn’t even the first time someone has pulled this stunt. In 2022, another Japanese woman lost more than four million yen (about $27,089) to a man pretending to be a Russian astronaut who said he needed help covering “rocket fees” so they could get married once he landed.
Romance scams have been on the rise in Japan. Official data shows more than 20,000 cases were recorded in 2024, with financial losses topping 71 billion yen (approx. $480,000). The first half of 2025 has already passed that total. Most of the victims were over 65.
But it’s not just seniors. Nearly 40 percent of people tricked by fake cops and similar scams in Japan were in their 20s and 30s. No age group is immune to being manipulated if the story is good enough.
This particular scammer told a story that combined loneliness, urgency, and national pride. He may have posed as a JAXA employee, Japan’s version of NASA. Weeks of messages set the stage and built trust, then came the so-called crisis.
Unsurprisingly, her story lit up social media, where reactions ran from mockery to genuine concern. For some, it was absurdist comedy. For others, it showed just how vulnerable people become when they think they’ve found love.
There is no astronaut. There is no spaceship. And the only countdown was to the poor woman’s money disappearing.
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