Japanese Woman Loses Nearly ¥195 Million in Romance Crypto Scam

A woman in her 60s in Japan's Toyama Prefecture lost nearly ¥195 million in a romance and cryptocurrency investment scam, police said. The fraud is the second-largest scam reported in the prefecture this year.

The scam began in June last year when the victim met a man on Facebook. After moving their conversations to LINE, the suspect gained her trust and persuaded her to invest in a fake gold trading platform using cryptocurrency.

After seeing fake profits from an initial investment, the woman transferred about ¥48.7 million in cryptocurrency over seven transactions. When she tried to withdraw her earnings, the scammer claimed she had to pay taxes first. She then made three bank transfers totaling about ¥145.8 million.

The fraud was uncovered after a financial institution flagged the unusually large transfers. Following discussions with her family, the woman reported the case to police.

She later told investigators that she had trusted the scammer completely and never suspected it was a fraud.