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A Japanese woman was scammed by a Russian man who claimed to be a cosmonaut in need of money to buy a rocket to return to earth, as well as pay landing fees when arriving in Japan.

Jip, it’s facepalm time again, so we’ll give you a minute.

The doomed love story began in June of last year when the ‘cosmonaut’ contacted her via Instagram. Claiming to work onboard the International Space Station, the shyster soon convinced the woman that he was in love with her. In order to make his story legit, he sent her random space pictures and told her that they have limited access to cellphones at certain times.

“I want to start my life in Japan. Saying this 1 000 times won’t be enough, but I’ll keep saying it. I love you,”

Whatever he told her seemed to work and soon their relationship escalated to the point where she began sending him money for a rocket to earth, and some extra for parking fees. The spaceman managed to scam almost R 550 000 from the poor lady before she became suspicious and reported him to the police. The fuzz has not yet been able to identify the man but they are sure that he is not on the ISS.

Romance scams have increased by 67 percent in Japan over the last decade, and although it’s easy to snicker into your coffee cup over stories like these, it’s always worth considering that most people who fall victim to these scams are left devastated and often poor, even if they were naive enough to believe something like this. The recent Tindler Swindler story is a good example of how unfair these crimes can be.

After all, this turd is still around:

 

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People do crazy things to find and keep love. Some lie and others steal, and some would even help a stranded spaceman buy a rocket. Who are we to judge?

[source:vice]