"If a person you met on social media ever demanded cash from you, please be suspicious of the possibility of scam"

I think this highly downplays the situation

"Grandma, please, it's Michael. I'm in low-Earth orbit, and if I don't give the Tijuana Police $10,000 USD they're going to cut off my air." /s

Weren't there astronauts trapped in space a little while back. I get it. They weren't being paid much either, so it's believable on some levels.

"I am a Nigerian prince lost in orbit. Please tell me your bank info so I can send you THREE MILLION DOLLARS"

It's always those damn dirty astronauts. The Upright Citizens Brigade tried to warn us.

I gave up on dating/relationships because I realized 95% of it is just the fantasy someone has in their head of the other person. It has very little to do with reality of day to day life. Hence why so many people fall for these romance scams. It's fan fiction of themselves. No doubt this lady was really congratulating herself on scoring an 'astronaut'. Probably works in an office with plenty of viable real people, but they are too 'boring' for her to ever consider... no she 'deserves' an astronaut.

He was over the moon when she sent the cash

In space, no one can hear you scam.

Maybe this is a dumb question, but with digital transactions shouldn't it be easy to track the scammer and/or reverse the transaction? I mean, if digital transactions have no protections, then why not use cash for everything?

I guess that relationship really took off

Just wait till you're stuck in orbit and nobody will buy gift cards for you!

I was actually really surprised that this happened in Japan. I immediately thought southern states, or Alberta 😉

Granted they are an octogenarian, but wouldn't it be great if there where something a person could connect to and look up all the people who are "actually in space" at this time?

Maybe a world wide web of information say.