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The story
A local TV report has revealed that a man in his 80s living in Shizuoka City was defrauded of roughly ¥11 million by someone posing as a woman he met on social media. He apparently kept sending money after believing lines like “I want to see you, darling, I want to go on a date,” making him the latest victim of a so-called SNS romance scam. The report drew a wide range of reactions on 5ch, from astonishment that an 80-year-old could have that much cash on hand, to exasperation at how elaborate the scam was, to sympathetic comments admitting “this could happen to me too.”
“I Want to See You, Darling, I Want to Go on a Date” — Man in His 80s Defrauded of ¥11 Million by Someone Posing as a Woman He Met on SNS [SNS Romance Scam], Shizuoka City – LOOK Shizuoka Asahi TV
Sunday, September 20, 2026, 17:06
A man in his 80s living in Shizuoka City was defrauded of roughly ¥11 million in cash by someone posing as a woman he met on social media.
Source: look.satv.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
You're always puru-puru trembling~
Just take out those dentures already~ (a parody of the lyrics to Lum's Love Song, the Urusei Yatsura ending theme)
Money above all else, I love you x3 (mwah~), I love you x3 (mwah~)
The scammers (the 'suspects') squirm across the net (another line from the same Lum's Love Song parody)
I easily played that back in my head in Fumi Hirano's voice (the voice actress for Lum)
It started serialization 48 years ago, in 1978
so this old guy would've been in his 30s back then
yeah, he'd know it alright.
When you get old, your brain seriously degrades to the point you're basically a different person.
Exactly.
None of us know if we'll end up going our whole lives without a girlfriend either, so we could get suckered by this kind of scam too.
The scariest people are the ones who call the victims idiots.
Even if he dies with ¥101 million, just ¥1 million is enough to cover a funeral and wrap things up — no problem at all. And whoever pocketed the rest will just spend it, so it even stimulates the economy.
Go listen to the Misfits' "Die, Die My Darling" (a punk song with a fitting title)
That's an investment scam lol
not a romance scam lololol
Life's a lesson no matter how old you get lol
He might not even remember the dream.
"I wanna see youuu, daaarling♥"
"Datcha" is actually Sendai dialect.
A cute girl from Sendai once said "…datcha" to me and I thought I'd met a real-life Lum.
"…shite kero" is Sendai dialect too.
Sounds like a frog (kero = croak), kinda cute lol
I could pay up to ¥1,000 for that.
(;゚Д゚) He's obviously well-off —
you can't hand over money you don't have.
Don't go acting like a victim.
Well, if he was being blackmailed, I could still feel some sympathy.
Background and Key Points of Debate
SNS romance scams typically work by building trust through repeated messaging with a stranger, then using talk of investments or personal circumstances as a pretext to solicit money — the elderly are said to be especially frequent targets. Opinions in the thread split between those who saw the large sum sent as proof the victim “must be wealthy,” and those who framed it as a case of someone whose “cognitive decline was exploited,” though the latter is speculation not confirmed by the reporting. Some posters also took the harsh position that “anyone who hands money to organized crime is an offender too,” but the report doesn’t reveal the actual nature of the scam group or the source of the victim’s funds. One point readers may find confusing is the mix between the headline’s framing as a “romance scam” and the “investment scam” elements some posters pointed out — the original article alone isn’t enough to determine the full details of how the scam operated.
*This article is composed of excerpts and a summary from the 5ch (News Express+) thread “‘I Want to See You, Darling, I Want to Go on a Date’ — Man in His 80s Defrauded of ¥11 Million by Someone Posing as a Woman He Met on SNS, Shizuoka City.”
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