The San Francisco District Attorneys Office will launch a new public awareness campaign today warning the Chinese American community of a crime targeting its elderly, reports ABC7/KGO.
The new campaign continues a year long effort and builds on the momentum of recent prosecution of several suspects in the so called blessing scam. According to the DA’s office, San Francisco remains the only city in the nation to successfully prosecute the crime which has spread nationwide.
Attorney General George Gascon sadly recounted the story of a woman who lost the $10,000 she saved to send her kids to college.
“She worked at a restaurant, she worked in the kitchen; had been saving for years,” he said
In the scam, victims are told by a doctor that they have a curse and are told they need to put their valuables in a bag so they can be blessed. During the blessing, the bags are switched and the victims out hard cash.
In all its believed victims have been taken for $1.5 million in San Francisco alone.
You can find out more about the outreach campaign on ABC7/KGO.
