An 80-year-old woman in Japan was swindled out of her life savings after falling prey to a scammer who posed as an astronaut in distress, police said.The bizarre con began in July when the woman, from Japan’s northern Hokkaido island, met the fraudster on a social media app. The man claimed to be a spacefarer stranded aboard a damaged spacecraft that was “under attack and in need of oxygen,” according to Sky News.Believing she was helping a hero in peril, the woman wired roughly $6,700 — money she thought would go toward oxygen supplies. Instead, police said, it went straight into the scammer’s pockets.Authorities described the case as a typical romance scam targeting the elderly, who are often vulnerable to manipulation online. Similar cons have emerged globally. In one case, a French woman lost $850,000 to a fraudster pretending to be Brad Pitt, complete with AI-generated “hospital bed” selfies.The growing trend has prompted lawmakers abroad to push for safeguards. In US, the proposed Romance Scam Prevention Act would require dating apps to notify users if someone they’ve interacted with was banned for fraud.
