A man in his 60s in Iwate almost walked into a romance scam that started from the worst possible place: the Line account of a relative who was already dead.
The message landed in July. It didn’t pretend to be the relative. It introduced itself as Yuzuki, 34, and opened with the classic wrong-number line: she was contacting him because he was on the friends list, and had they met somewhere before?
He figured it was a mistake. Then she said she’d developed feelings for him. He later told local media it would be a lie to say he had no ulterior motives, but he also went in skeptical. His rule was simple. If it stayed on Line, fine.
It didn’t stay innocent for long. She started asking for personal details, including his home address. To keep him talking, she sent gym photos, then pool photos, then shots that got more revealing. That was the part that finally felt off.
About a week in, the pitch arrived. Why don’t we study investing together at my uncle’s place?
He turned it down. Her tone flipped immediately. That was enough. He sent one last message — the photos are of someone else, aren’t they? — and the account went silent.
Prefectural police called it a standard romance scam with an ugly twist. Scammers take over existing social accounts, including ones that belonged to people who have died, then message the contact list until someone answers. A familiar name on the screen does not mean a familiar person on the other end.
He got out before any money moved. A lot of these stories don’t end that way.