A 65-year-old Japanese woman was conned out of £27,350 by a man posing as a Russian astronaut in orbit who needed the funds to return to Earth and marry her.
According to TV Asahi, the couple began communicating on Instagram in June, where the man’s profile was packed with photographs of space and he stated he was based at the International Space Station.
Soon after, the man began telling the unidentified woman that he was in love with her, wanted to marry her, and wanted to go to Japan so that they could begin their new life together.
The man stated that he required funds for a rocket in order to marry the anonymous woman in Japan.
The woman sent 4.4 million yen (£27,350) to her alleged future spouse between August 19 and September 5 after he claimed he required the funds to cover the cost of a rocket and landing fees to return to Earth so the couple could marry.
After eventually becoming suspicious, the woman reported the space cowboy to authorities, and the case is currently being examined as a romance fraud.
The recent release of The Tinder Swindler on Netflix, a documentary about con artist Simon Leviev who defrauded women out of millions of pounds, has shed attention on romance frauds.
Mr. Levieve allegedly defrauded multiple European ladies out of more than $9 million between 2017 and 2019, with many obtaining bank loans or credit cards to “loan” him money that they would never receive back.
Before deceiving his victims into handing over enormous sums of money, the international con artist would impress them with his ostensibly glamorous lifestyle of private aircraft, expensive clothing, and luxury hotels.
In a perverse Ponzi scheme, he would use the money he took from them to entice his next victim, lavishing them with international flights, hundreds of red flowers, and VIP club tables.
The incident is being investigated by Japanese authorities as a romance fraud.
According to Action Fraud, similar crimes are on the rise in the United Kingdom, where as much as £92 million is lost annually to romance fraud. According to the organization, Valentine’s Day and Christmas are the most typical times for this type of crime.