An 80-year-old woman from Japan’s Hokkaido region fell victim to an online scam. The fraudster posed as an astronaut and claimed that oxygen on his spacecraft was running out. He asked her to send money to his account, saying it was needed to pay a space station on Earth that could “deliver oxygen” to him for a fee.
Over several months of correspondence, the scammer managed to swindle nearly $10,000 from the woman.
This true story is yet another reminder of how even basic knowledge about astronomy and space can protect us from falling for such absurd schemes. 😊
