TOKYO: A Japanese oct­­ogenarian was swindled out of thousands of dollars after falling in love online with a self-described astronaut who sought her help to avert a spaceship crisis, police said on Tuesday.

The hapless woman in Japan’s northern Hok­k­a­ido island met the fraudster in July on social media. He claimed to be a male astronaut, police said, describing the case as a “romance scam”.

After some exchanges, the scammer one day told her he was “in space on a spaceship right now”, but was “under attack and in need of oxygen”, police said.

The scammer then ur­ged her to pay him onl­i­ne to help him buy oxygen, and successfully hoodwinked around one million yen ($6,700) out of her.

The woman lives alone and started developing feelings for him as their online communication pr­o­­­gressed, local media said, quoting investigative sources.

“If a person you met on social media ever dem­a­nded cash from you, please be suspicious of the possibility of scam, and report to police,” a police official said.

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.

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2025