Woman loses thousands of dollars to romance scammer posing as astronaut in distress, police in Japan say

After some exchanges, the scammer one day told her he was "in space on a spaceship right now" but was "under attack and in need of oxygen," the official said.

The scammer then urged her to pay him online to help him buy oxygen, and successfully hoodwinked around 1 million yen ($6,700) out of her.