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.
Ugh, why are people so shitty? There should be a special place in hell for scamming the elderly.
x2 for scamming people in Japan. IMO they are the nicest people and would literally give you the shirt off their back. Sucks when others take advantage of naivety and kindness :/
E: typo
Would literally give the shirt off their back
… To other Japanese folks.
Japan’s racism makes America look tame.
Sometimes to white people as well (who are, of course, not Japanese, but OK as far as barbarians go). Chinese/Koreans (including Japanese-born, Japanese-speaking descendants of Korean migrants who are nonetheless not racially Japanese) are regarded with disdain, and Africans are often seen as borderline subhuman. (Not by all Japanese people, but these attitudes are common and people will admit to them in a way that few will in the USA/Europe.)
People are shitty because grifting is easy. If I had a few million in available spending cash and no morals, I could grift people left and right without them even knowing it. The average person is just too incompetent, naive, and/or trusting.
The ease seems less important here than the morals, tbh. It’s easier to make people aware of scammers than to make them care about each other, unfortunately.
Oh you sweet summer child…