An elderly Chinese woman is approached on the street by a woman speaking Cantonese. The stranger wonders whether the woman knows of a good herbalist but is rebuffed. A third woman appears, intervening in a way that gains the confidence of the first woman. This third woman will then convince her that she is being hounded by evil spirits. At that point the elderly woman is asked to fetch her cash and jewelry, place them in a bag, and bring the entire package to a meeting place, where they will be used in a ritual meant to pacify the supernatural forces. The woman complies, a prayer is said, and she is sent home.
Naturally, she will discover that all her belongings are no longer in the bag, and that she has been the victim of a bait and switch.
With some variation, this scam has occurred between 30 and 40 times in San Francisco this year, police say. Elderly East Asian women are the targets.
The most recent incidents occurred over Labor Day weekend, says SFPD Public Information Officer Carlos Manfredi. Two women in their 60s were defrauded: the first was approached near Grant and Jackson streets in Chinatown on Sunday; she lost thousands of dollars in cash and jewelry. On Monday, another woman was intercepted at Market and Third and handed over her entire life savings.
Police, however, obtained video of the Chinatown incident in progress, which you can see below. Officer Manfredi says the following shows one of the suspects switching bags on the victim...