The curse of the blessing scam
Female con artists are exploiting superstition and family love to swindle women with Chinese heritage living in the west. Now a social media activist is fighting back.
Female con artists are exploiting superstition and family love to swindle women with Chinese heritage living in the west.
The blessing scam is an elaborate piece of criminal street theatre which over the last few months has claimed victims across North America and the UK.
It begins with an apparently random meeting with a stranger in the street, and very quickly escalates from there.
Victims are tricked out of their money and possessions, after being terrified into believing that a relative鈥檚 life is threatened by evil spirits. And they鈥檙e left wondering: how did that happen? Are the criminals just master manipulators, or could something even more sinister be involved?
Now a social media activist is fighting back and is trying to put the crooks out of business.
Presenter: Elaine Chong
Producers: Ed Main and Marta Pausilli
Additional reporting: Austin Landis
Editor: Flora Carmichael
Last on
More episodes
Broadcasts
- Sat 12 Oct 2024 10:32GMT大象传媒 World Service East and Southern Africa & Europe and the Middle East only
- Sat 12 Oct 2024 15:32GMTLive News
- Sat 12 Oct 2024 15:32GMT大象传媒 World Service News Internet
- Sat 12 Oct 2024 18:32GMT大象传媒 World Service West and Central Africa
- Sun 13 Oct 2024 03:32GMT大象传媒 World Service except East and Southern Africa, Europe and the Middle East & West and Central Africa
- Sun 13 Oct 2024 10:32GMT大象传媒 World Service except East and Southern Africa, Europe and the Middle East & West and Central Africa
- Sun 13 Oct 2024 23:32GMT大象传媒 World Service except East and Southern Africa
- Mon 14 Oct 2024 02:32GMT大象传媒 World Service East and Southern Africa
Podcast
-
Trending
In-depth reporting on the world of social media