I'm an astronaut, please send me my oxygen purchase fee...a female victim of a new type of fraud
Sep 03, 2025
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The Japanese police said it was a new voice phishing method and asked to prevent damage.
According to Japanese media such as TBS, a woman in her 80s living alone in Sapporo met and contacted a man who introduced her on social media as 'astronaut' in mid-July.
Recently, he said "I'm going back to Earth in a spacecraft now, but I'm under attack and I'm running out of oxygen."
At the same time, he asked "Please purchase electronic money because you need to purchase oxygen."
In response, the woman purchased and delivered a total of 1 million yen worth of electronic money from five convenience stores in Teine-gu, Sapporo.
Since then, when there was little contact, the woman informed her family, and the damage was reported to the police.
The victim said she had a romantic feeling by communicating with the man. The police began identifying the male suspect.
The police suspected fraud and asked them to report it if a person they met on social media asked for cash or electronic money.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
