A group of Chinese scammers are targeting elderly women from their own community in Melbourne, and have stolen more than $150,000 in cash and jewellery so far.
Victoria Police on Tuesday asked for public assistance identifying five people – three women and two men – who are allegedly scamming victims in the suburb of Box Hill, where White Australians are now heavily outnumbered by Asian immigrants.
Detectives said the group approach elderly Chinese women in the street and convince them there is a spirit following them and that they or a family member is in danger.
“The offenders then offer to help the victim rid themselves of the spirits by praying over their bag containing money and jewellery,” police said.
“The victim is told not to look in the bag for a period of time and when they finally look into the bag, they find that their valuables have been stolen.”
Whitehorse Crime Investigation Unit detectives are investigating three incidents which all occurred on Station Street on November 26 at 10am, and on December 4 at 9.45am and 1.55pm.
Investigators have released images of three women and two men that may be able to assist with their enquiries.
Detective Senior Constable Adam Stafford said police were looking into whether the scammers were part of an organised crime syndicate.
“It’s cruel offending preying on the elderly victims, it’s unacceptable in the community. We will do our best to locate and hold these people accountable,” he said, referring to it as a “blessing scam” that has also been seen in NSW recently and in Victoria in 2018.
According to the 2021 Census, Box Hill is now just 31.7% Australian-born, with only 11.3% of the suburb’s population listing their ancestry as Australia, compared to 46.6% who nominated Chinese.
China is the next largest country of birth on 29.5%, followed by Malaysia on 6.4%, India on 4.5%, Hong Kong on 2.5% and Vietnam on 1.9%.
Mandarin was spoken by 33.9% of Box Hill residents, while 8.5% spoke Cantonese, and only 32.5% spoke only English.
Header image: Images of people police believe may be able to assist with enquiries (Victoria Police).
