A Japanese woman was somehow fooled into paying 4.4 million yen ($30,000) to help a “Russian astronaut” she had met online return to Earth from the International Space Station.
It’s not often that we feature news stories worthy of an “Idiocracy” sequel, but this is definitely one such rare occasion. To be honest, had it not been reported by two of Japan’s largest news outlets – Mainichi and Kyodo News – we would have dismissed it as a satirical piece by The Onion. But, it turns out that a 65-year-old woman from Japan’s Shiga Prefecture really did fall in love with a man claiming to be a Russian astronaut and sent him $30,000 to help him hitch a ride back to Earth from the International Space Station. Really makes the “Nigerian prince” scam sound believable, doesn’t it?
