By Josefine Ganko
More than $3 million in cash and valuables have allegedly been stolen from elderly Chinese women in a spiritual blessing scam organised by an overseas syndicate, as police search for at least 50 fraudsters after charging a woman in an ongoing investigation.
Yuee Ruan was arrested at Sydney International Airport on Thursday evening after disembarking a flight from China. Police allege she was returning to the country to continue offending.
The 63-year-old woman was arrested at Sydney International Airport on Thursday evening. Credit: NSW Police
“They’re best described as FIFO criminals. They’re organised criminals that fly in for short periods of time, on up to 20 occasions over two years, and fly out,” Detective Superintendent Guy Magee alleged at a press conference on Friday.
The plot generally targets elderly Chinese women and exploits their cultural fears to encourage them to hand over money and valuables, including jewellery, Magee explained.
Yuee Ruan, 63, was later charged with several offences relating to a scam that allegedly targeted an elderly woman in Parramatta last month. The 77-year-old victim had $130,000 worth of money and goods stolen, police allege.
The charges include dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage by deception, contributing to the criminal activity of a group and demanding property in company with menace and intent to steal.
Another man, also 63, was arrested at Brisbane Airport this morning in connection with the same Parramatta scam. NSW Police will apply to extradite the man to Sydney, where he’s expected to face similar charges. The man arrived in the country recently via Melbourne.
Investigators believe the scheme could span the eastern states of Australia, with at least 50 different scammers involved in more than 80 instances across Sydney since 2023.
Twenty-five alleged scammers have been identified, and 11 warrants are out for their arrests. Some are believed to be overseas.
Police will allege the males involved in the syndicate are co-ordinating its activities from overseas.
Magee described the group’s approach as highly organised and orchestrated. The scammers “swarm like a pack of hyenas” to persuade targets they had been hit with bad luck and need their money or belongings blessed to protect family from spirits that could lay curses or cause illness.
“It’s disgraceful when you think about who they’re targeting. It’s their own culture that they have that inside knowledge of, and they’re capitalising on that knowledge,” Magee said.
Scammers approached vulnerable women in public and convinced them to attend a spiritual healer who was part of the scam. They would then be told to go to their home and retrieve their life savings and all their jewellery, often thousands of dollars worth, and place them in a bag.
Police allege the items were swapped out for items of no value, and cash was taken, before the scammers returned the bags to the women and encouraged them not to look inside for extended periods.
Each person had a specific role in a scam that was “very effective and very efficient”, Magee said.
“It’s like a role play – there’s nothing by chance in what they do. They all have deliberate roles. In fact, they know role one, two, three and four. They know what, if you’re a role player one, they know what that means.”
The reported scams have taken place across Sydney, including incidents in the Ryde, Burwood, Parramatta and Hornsby areas.
Police released CCTV footage from Patrick Street in Blacktown showing a 73-year-old woman approached by three unknown women, before she allegedly handed over jewellery worth tens of thousands of dollars. Investigators called for the public’s help tracking down the trio, who they said could assist with their inquiries.
CCTV footage from Blacktown shows a 73-year-old woman being approached three unknown women. Credit: NSW Police
Given that scams are an under-reported crime type because of the embarrassment for those targeted, police believe there could be many more victims.
“Anecdotally, I think the offending is probably at least double what we think,” Magee said.
Police have been investigating the “Chinese blessing scams” since July 2023, issuing a warning last October that urged people not to provide any information or give any items if approached by someone trying to “frighten them for a spiritual reason”.
Two incidents from last year were detailed in the warning.
In September, a 76-year-old woman in Campsie was told that her daughter would be seriously injured if her wealth wasn’t blessed. In May, a 71-year-old woman was approached by three women in Cabramatta and told that her son would be in a car accident in three days’ time if spirits weren’t dispelled.
The women involved in both incidents were described as being aged in their 40s and of Asian appearance.
As investigations continue, police are warning the public to remain vigilant of the threat, and to beware of unknown people seeking access to money and valuables. They have also appealed for any other victims of the same to come forward.
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