A jury in San Francisco has convicted 51-year old Cui Qun Zhu of six felonies and one misdemeanor for scamming two victims in separate blessing scam cases.
Both victims identified the suspect in a line up.
“This verdict sends a powerful message that San Francisco will aggressively
prosecute those who prey on our elders. With successful prosecution and
continued public education on prevention, we can put a stop to blessing
scams,” said District Attorney George Gascón. “Thank you to the FBI, the
SFPD, and especially members of the Chinese community who came forward to
help with the prosecution of this case.”
The scam which has spread nationwide from New York to Honolulu is responsible for victimizing people out of $1.5 million just in San Francisco alone.
The scam artists convince usually elderly Chinese victims that bad things will happen to them unless they put all their valuables in a bag and then pray over them. The bags are eventually switched before the victims realize what is going on.
You can read much more about how this crime has spread nationwide on NPR
