'Astronaut' man tells lover he is 'under attack on spaceship', dupes her of 1 million yen

A scammer duped a Japanese woman out of 1 million yen ($6,716) after telling her that he was an astronaut and "under attack on a spaceship." He asked her to transfer some money for oxygen, and she sent it to him. The shocking incident saw the man first luring the woman into a romantic relationship and then cheating her out of several thousand dollars. According to a report in The Mirror, the man met the woman through social media in July. The police said the duo entered a relationship and started talking. She is a resident of Hokkaido, and started having regular conversations with him. One day, the man struck and made a weird move. He told her that he was "in space on a spaceship right now" and "under attack". The fraudster told her that she needed oxygen and asked her to send money for it.

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The woman agreed and transferred 1 million yen to his account. Police have called it a romance scam, in which the woman was brazenly manipulated into sending thousands of dollars. Scammers are becoming increasingly innovative and duping people in all sorts of ways. Meanwhile, innocent victims continue to fall for such scamsters who take on fake identities and even spend weeks winning their confidence before making a move.

Fraudsters posing as Jennifer Aniston loot man in UK

A man in the UK was recently duped of hundreds of pounds when a scamster approached him posing as famous actress Jennifer Aniston. He even provided an ID to prove that he was the FRIENDS star. Fraudsters connected with Paul Davis on Facebook and referred to him as "my love". The person on the other side even told him that "she loved him." Posing as Aniston, they sent him flirty emojis and doctored "selfies". One day, the scamster asked Paul to send non-refundable Apple gift cards.