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News.com.au
04-07-2025
- News.com.au
Sydney rocked as $3m lost to alleged ‘Chinese blessing scams'
Police have shared new details of an alleged series of Chinese blessing scams, which have cost Sydneysiders a collective $3 million, as a woman is charged for allegedly targeting a 77-year-old. The scam generally targets elderly Chinese women and exploits their cultural fears by convincing them their families are at risk, and demanding money to protect them from illness or curses. 'The women are deceived and once the scammers are in possession of their money and valuables including jewellery, the items are swapped with items of no value and the women are encouraged not to open the bags for an extended time,' police said. In April, police launched Strike Force Sentinel to investigate reports of the scams across the Sydney area, including Ryde, Burwood, Parramatta and Hornsby areas. To date, they have received more than 80 reports of alleged scams, with more than $3 million in cash and valuables stolen. On Thursday, a 63-year-old woman was arrested at Sydney International Airport in relation to an alleged 'Chinese blessing scam'. Police allege the woman was involved with defrauding a 77-year-old woman of a 'large sum of money and jewellery' in Parramatta in June. She was taken to Mascot Police Station where she was charged with dishonestly obtain financial advantage etc by deception, participate criminal group contribue criminal activity and demand property in company with menaces with intent to steal. She was refused bail and is set to appear before Parramatta Local Court on Friday. Anyone who may have been victim of a 'blessing scam' is urged to make a report to police. Police have urged the public to be hyper vigilant of scammers, and to avoid following people to a doctor or letting strangers inside a home. 'Beware of people you don't know and can't identify seeking access to money and valuables,' they said. 'Beware of people asking for directions to a Chinese herbal doctor or spiritual healer. 'Do not follow people you have just met to a doctor or healer. Do not continue conversation with strangers and leave the location. 'Do not bring strangers home,' they added. 'Do not hand over money, jewellery, or valuable items to stranger, and do not put money or jewellery in a bag for any blessing ritual.'
BBC News
30-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Police impersonator who took £50k from elderly people jailed
A man who impersonated a police officer to take more than £50,000 from elderly people has been Butters, 27, of no fixed abode, was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison at Liverpool Crown Court after being involved in courier frauds in eight different areas in the to Thames Valley Police victims received phone calls from an unknown person impersonating a police officer or bank investigator who asked them to hand over cash, bank cards and would then impersonate a police officer while visiting the addresses to collect the items. Police said one victim was a women in her 70s from Flackwell Heath, near High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, On 7 January 2025 she had answered a call from an unknown number on her mobile phone from a man who pretended to be from Scotland Yard's Action calls which lasted for more than six hours throughout the day, the victim was told her bank cards had been used fraudulently and were needed as evidence to arrest somebody in the local was told if she did not hand over the cards she would be arrested went to the woman's address later that day and collected three bank cards, which he used to buy iPhones worth £5,896. The force worked with Merseyside Police and Cheshire Constabulary in the Con Claire Nangle, the officer in charge of the Thames Valley case, said: "Butters showed a complete disregard for his victims by pressuring them to co-operate in his fictional covert operation, taking advantage of their trusting nature. "This sentence reflects the seriousness of his offending, aggravated by the fact that he systematically targeted vulnerable, elderly victims."On 19 May Butters was sentenced after previously admitting to four counts of fraud by false representation at the same court. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
