Teh One Who Knocks
10-13-2022, 05:32 PM
By Lizzie McAllister, News reporter - The Daily Star
https://i.imgur.com/z8T0sCe.png
A woman was scammed after a man pretending to be a Russian astronaut convinced her to pay him thousands after striking up a romantic relationship with her.
The shameless con artist found the 65-year-old Japanese woman on Instagram back in June and showered her in proclamations of love, promising to marry her when the pair were finally united in person.
The pair would regularly text back and forth on the Japanese messaging app LINE, with the fake astronaut declaring “I want to start my life in Japan,” and “saying this 1,000 times won’t be enough, but I’ll keep saying it. I love you,” according to news outlet TV Asahi.
The only catch, the man claimed, was that he was stuck in space and landing back on Earth was no cheap feat.
https://i.imgur.com/Y3hqfu8.png
The fake astronaut claimed to be based at the International Space Station and posted generic pictures of space to his Instagram page in a bid to trick followers.
He claimed that in order to land in Japan and marry his beloved he needed to pay expensive landing fees, not to mention having to acquire a rocket to actually get to Earth.
https://i.imgur.com/O1o4yZA.png
Thinking she had found love, the woman, who remained anonymous, paid her would-be fiancé about 4.4 million yen (£27,000) in five instalments from August 19 until September 5.
However, as he continued to demand more cash, his victim grew suspicious and reported him to police, who are now investigating the case as a "romance scam".
Romance scams - where a fraudster creates a fake online persona and tricks their victims into thinking they're in a romantic relationship in order to gain their trust - have been on the rise not only in Japan but across the world, and the number of UK victims falling for them soared over lockdown, UK Finance reports.
https://i.imgur.com/dxPWTbh.png
It's not just online that people are swindled out of cash by pseudo-romantic partners - earlier this year a woman was conned out of £35,000 by her dream guy after they met in a pub in Bristol.
Alison Wood, 51, met her "Turkish Warrior" ex-partner, Umit Sucu, 44, in 2018 when he told her he was toasting his divorce - but Wood later found out he was still married to another woman and had been using her for cash.
Wood said: "Looking back, I think how could I have just believed him? But I loved him and wanted to do everything I could to help his situation.
https://i.imgur.com/3mxh9rF.png
"My mum died shortly after meeting him. He even helped us arrange the funeral.
"It got to the point where he was such a big part of my life, I never thought to question his intentions."
Sucu pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud and was sentenced to 15 months in prison, suspended for two years.
https://i.imgur.com/z8T0sCe.png
A woman was scammed after a man pretending to be a Russian astronaut convinced her to pay him thousands after striking up a romantic relationship with her.
The shameless con artist found the 65-year-old Japanese woman on Instagram back in June and showered her in proclamations of love, promising to marry her when the pair were finally united in person.
The pair would regularly text back and forth on the Japanese messaging app LINE, with the fake astronaut declaring “I want to start my life in Japan,” and “saying this 1,000 times won’t be enough, but I’ll keep saying it. I love you,” according to news outlet TV Asahi.
The only catch, the man claimed, was that he was stuck in space and landing back on Earth was no cheap feat.
https://i.imgur.com/Y3hqfu8.png
The fake astronaut claimed to be based at the International Space Station and posted generic pictures of space to his Instagram page in a bid to trick followers.
He claimed that in order to land in Japan and marry his beloved he needed to pay expensive landing fees, not to mention having to acquire a rocket to actually get to Earth.
https://i.imgur.com/O1o4yZA.png
Thinking she had found love, the woman, who remained anonymous, paid her would-be fiancé about 4.4 million yen (£27,000) in five instalments from August 19 until September 5.
However, as he continued to demand more cash, his victim grew suspicious and reported him to police, who are now investigating the case as a "romance scam".
Romance scams - where a fraudster creates a fake online persona and tricks their victims into thinking they're in a romantic relationship in order to gain their trust - have been on the rise not only in Japan but across the world, and the number of UK victims falling for them soared over lockdown, UK Finance reports.
https://i.imgur.com/dxPWTbh.png
It's not just online that people are swindled out of cash by pseudo-romantic partners - earlier this year a woman was conned out of £35,000 by her dream guy after they met in a pub in Bristol.
Alison Wood, 51, met her "Turkish Warrior" ex-partner, Umit Sucu, 44, in 2018 when he told her he was toasting his divorce - but Wood later found out he was still married to another woman and had been using her for cash.
Wood said: "Looking back, I think how could I have just believed him? But I loved him and wanted to do everything I could to help his situation.
https://i.imgur.com/3mxh9rF.png
"My mum died shortly after meeting him. He even helped us arrange the funeral.
"It got to the point where he was such a big part of my life, I never thought to question his intentions."
Sucu pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud and was sentenced to 15 months in prison, suspended for two years.