Even in the 21st century, There are people who let themselves be scammed in unbelievable ways. That is the case of a Japanese woman who was deceived by a supposed Russian astronaut, who asked her for a large sum of money to return to Earth with the promise of marrying her. This is reflected on Wednesday by the website yomiuri.co.
Apparently, This fraudster has a high power of persuasion. And the woman believed he was the man she had waited for all her life. Although it's a deception technique that has been around on social media for some time, The above is not the only case that has occurred in recent times. The unfortunate thing is that there are still many who fall into the trap.
Woman scammed by Russian "astronaut" who needed money to return to Earth
This 65-year-old woman lives in Shiga Prefecture, which is part of the city of Higashi-Omi. On June 28, she met this Russian man through Instagram, who began to woo her by telling her that he worked on the International Space Station, but that now he wanted to start a new life in Japan. The big problem was that he needed money to cover the cost of landing a rocket on Earth.
It happened in Japan: the 65-year-old sent 4.4 million yen, the equivalent of $30, to scammers posing as a Russian cosmonaut https://t.co/EwDeSljFdQ
— FayerWayer (@fayerwayer) October 12, 2022
The woman found the idea of this man being willing to come from space to live with her charming. Therefore, She was willing to send him €30.000 to pay for the return rocket and the flight to Japan. The expenses were a little strange, however, in five installments the gentleman received what he had asked for.
But it didn't end there. Days later, the man made another request for cash, as the first amount didn't cover his expenses. This time, The woman became suspicious and went to the police to file a report. He said he believed her words because He named real institutions like NASA or JAXA, which is the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. However, the money is already lost and impossible to recover.
Officers from the Higashi-Omi police station began investigations into international romance scam, This happens when a victim is deceived with supposed romantic intentions. It is a very common situation, and according to various analyses, Cases increased by 67% in the last decade, with a figure of 14.498 in 2021.
Other truly bizarre scams that have occurred in recent years
The internet is full of stories of people who have been scammed by others who make romantic proposals from a distance, without showing their real face and hiding behind outstanding professions. China is a place where these kinds of scams are rampant. One of the most talked-about cases in 2022 was revealed by the Shanghai police, and the protagonist is a 29-year-old woman.
This girl, surnamed Wu, was dating 18 men simultaneously. and in total He stole the sum of 300.000 euros from them over a period of 5 years. She seduced them and invented any excuse to get them to transfer money to her bank account. One of the boys even sold his house to help his future wife. The situation escalated when they discovered she had a partner and two children. They reported the woman to the police, and that's how the case became public.
But scams aren't limited to the realm of romance. A small restaurant in the United States was used to deceiving investors on the New York Stock Exchange. The owners inflated the value of their shares dramatically, leading many to become interested in investing in it. In 2019 each title cost one euro, and by 2021 its price was 14. A complaint led to the uncovering of the deception and the closure of the business.
The other scam trend is related to cryptocurrencies. For example, last March, Hackers gained access to Axie Infinity's network and stole approximately €620 million. The method used involved a LinkedIn profile inviting employees to submit their applications for an extremely generous salary. One of the employees downloaded it, and inside the document was spyware that allowed the thieves to infiltrate the company's internal system and take control of the validators.
And a fourth case is that of A YouTuber from Thailand who scammed his fans out of €55 million. He promised the followers he attracted to his channel huge profits if they invested in his e-commerce company. Quickly, 6.000 people joined, and he raised millions of dollars in no time.
Days later, he said in a post that he had lost all his money due to a business error and that his account was also blocked, making it impossible for him to access his funds. Many of the victims filed complaints, although it is presumed that the man fled the country.
And there are hundreds of methods used to ensnare unsuspecting victims, offering things that are impossible to deliver or too good to be true. It's become so widespread that The streaming platform Netflix has released productions based on these procedures These have come hand in hand with the digitization of communications. One of the most famous and talked about is the one titled 'The Tinder scammer', whose main protagonist is an Israeli fashion designer.
The character used his stereotypical image to swindle the women he seduced in one way or another. They all became convinced that he was the man of their dreams and were willing to do anything for him, in this case, to get the money he demanded because he was being pursued by his enemies. The biggest influence in all cases was the Internet and social media. This shows that deception is easy for those who have the desire to harm others.
