Latest news with #spiritualblessings
SBS Australia
09-07-2025
- SBS Australia
Blessing scams in Australia: 80 reports, $3 million stolen and fresh charge
A 62-year-old man has been charged as part of an investigation into 'spiritual blessings scam' which target Asian communities. NSW Police said the man was arrested at Brisbane Airport on Friday, extradited to NSW, and charged with dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception. He is due to appear in court today. The investigation into so-called 'blessing scams' started in April, and NSW Police said they had received reports for more than 80 incidents across Sydney, including Ryde, Burwood, Parramatta and Hornsby areas, with more than $3 million in cash and valuables stolen. Police will allege in court that the charged man was involved in defrauding a 77-year-old woman of a large sum of money and jewellery at Parramatta in June. He was further charged with participating in criminal group activity and demanding property in company with menaces with intent to steal. What are spiritual blessing scams? Spiritual blessing scammers approach victims in public, often working in pairs or groups. They will ask a victim if they know a spiritual healer and escalate the conversation, telling the victim their family are in danger and they will need to seek a spiritual blessing. Often they threaten that the person or their family will be seriously injured if they don't have their wealth blessed. They tell the victim they need to put their cash and jewellery in a bag and have the bag blessed by a spiritual healer. The bag is then returned empty.
SBS Australia
04-07-2025
- SBS Australia
'Fly in, fly out criminals' preying on elderly in $3 million 'blessing scams' saga
NSW police have charged two people over their alleged involvement in a 'spiritual blessings scam' predominantly targeting Asian communities and elderly women. NSW Police Detective Superintendent Guy Magee said dozens more people are under investigation and labelled the scammers "FIFO (fly in, fly out) criminals" who come to Australia from China for short stints. "They swarm like a pack of hyenas," Magee said. "It's their own culture they have inside knowledge of ... they capitalise on the vulnerabilities of that community around superstition", Magee said. A woman has been charged over allegedly targeting people with a blessings scam in Parramatta, Sydney. Source: Getty / imamember/Getty Images Police allege a 63-year-old woman, who they claim had flown into Australia from China with the intent to scam more people, attempted to defraud a 77-year-old woman of jewellery and money. A man allegedly connected to the scam was arrested at Brisbane airport while attempting to return to China. Over 80 incidents of spiritual blessing scams have been reported to police and an estimated $3 million in cash and valuables has been stolen. More than 50 people are believed to be involved in the scam and 11 arrest warrants have been issued. What are spiritual blessing scams? Spiritual blessing scammers approach victims in public, often working in pairs or groups. They will ask a victim if they know a spiritual healer and escalate the conversation, telling the victim their family are in danger and they will need to seek a spiritual blessing. Often they threaten that the person or their family will be seriously injured if they don't have their wealth blessed. They tell the victim they need to put their cash and jewellery in a bag and have the bag blessed by a spiritual healer. The bag is then returned empty. The reported scams have taken place in multiple areas of Sydney including Ryde, Campsie, Cabramatta, Burwood and Hornsby. Police say people are likely to have under-reported the issue due to embarrassment over being tricked. Earlier this year Victorian police said scammers had stolen $200,000 from elderly victims in the Box Hill area through spiritual blessing scams. 'Isolated, vulnerable' victims Jane Lu is a senior executive officer at Chinese Australian Services Society, an organisation that provides settlement services for Chinese people in Australia. She says the service regularly receives requests to assist people who have been targeted by spiritual blessing scams. "These female victims, most of them are the main carer for their family," she told SBS Chinese. "Most of them are very isolated and face language barriers in Australia. In Chinese culture these women handle the family's savings and they are targeted because scammers know they will have cash saved at home." Lu said they are also targeted because of their spiritual beliefs and desire to protect their families. "[In traditional Chinese culture] we have beliefs that we trust spirits or the ghost exists in another world," she said. "When someone tells you that your son or daughter will be hurt by the spirits, they try their best to protect their kids". Lu said victims are often very embarrassed and feel that shame has been brought on their whole family, and can find it difficult to seek help or speak to police. How to avoid blessing scams Lu said it's important that people are connected to family and community and that younger family members warn elderly members about scams. Police have cautioned people against speaking to strangers who ask them for directions to spiritual healers, to not bring them home or hand over any valuables to a stranger.
CNA
06-06-2025
- CNA
Four accused of duping woman out of her belongings in 'blessings' scam
SINGAPORE: Three women and a man were charged on Friday (Jun 6) for their purported roles in a scam that involved at least one victim surrendering her belongings for religious blessings. The man is Huang Ximing, 61, and the women are Zhong Weifeng, 58, Huang Qinyan, 47, and Huang Meiling, 56. All four are Chinese nationals. Each was handed two charges of cheating in a conspiracy. In a press release on Friday, the police said that they received a report on Jun 3 from a victim who was allegedly cheated by three women in Chinatown. Charge sheets provided more details on how this occurred. Huang Meiling had initially approached the alleged victim seeking directions to a Chinese physician, when Zhong intervened and claimed that she knew of one. Zhong added that consultations could only occur outside the premises due to overcrowding and wanted the victim to pose as her relative. She then led them to Huang Qinyan, who claimed to be the physician, the police said. The victim was then told that she was "experiencing misfortune due to negative spiritual elements". The police added that the three women and the victim then arranged to meet at Hong Lim Park, where they convinced the victim to surrender S$700 (US$544) in cash and a gold necklace with a "Guan Yin" pendant to the "Chinese physician". Huang Qinyan, who was posing as the physician, then placed the items in a black plastic bag and performed an alleged blessing ritual, said the police. The victim was instructed to store the plastic bag underneath her bed, unopened, for one month. The next morning, when the victim examined the contents of the plastic bag, she discovered that her valuables had been replaced with leaves. The police said they received another report of a similar scam in the Clementi area on Jun 4. In this incident, two women approached another victim and engaged her in conversation. After noticing cash in the victim's bag, they convinced her to place her valuables into a black trash bag for "safekeeping", said the police. The victim later discovered that her money was missing. Charges state that on Jun 3, 2025, at about 3pm, in the vicinity of Commonwealth Avenue West, the four engaged in a conspiracy to cheat the victim by deceiving her into believing that they had better equipment and techniques to safeguard her valuables. The victim was allegedly deceived into delivering an envelope containing S$500 in cash to Huang Meiling and Huang Qinyan for custody. Huang Ximing, Zhong and Huang Qinyan appeared in court via videolink, where a prosecutor applied to have them remanded for a week with permission to take them out for investigations. This was to ascertain if there were other cases of a similar nature, if the accused had other accomplices, and to conduct scene visits to recover evidence. Huang Meiling was charged separately. The court granted the application and fixed a further mention for all four on Jun 13. Through extensive ground enquiries and the aid of CCTV footage, the police were able to establish the identities of the accused. All four were arrested on Jun 5. The victim's gold necklace was recovered from one of them, said the police. Cash amounting to S$1,311 and 10,050 Chinese yuan (US$1,400) were also seized. The police urged the public to be wary of strangers who claim to provide spiritual help or blessing services. "No legitimate religious practitioner will ask for your money or valuables to be surrendered for any blessing ritual," said the police. "If approached by someone claiming you have bad luck or need spiritual cleansing, do not engage with them and call the police immediately."
