‘Spiritual blessing scam’ robs elderly woman of $130,000 saved for ill health

3 months ago 18

A woman has been jailed over an international spiritual blessing scam in which elderly victims are lured into believing their relatives are possessed by evil spirits and will die unless they take part in fake rituals.

The sentence has brought police closer to dismantling the alleged multi-million dollar international fraud which has robbed people of their entire life savings. Strike Force Sentinal has since April been investigating eighty-nine “Chinese blessing scams” across Sydney.

Yuee Ruan was arrested at Sydney Airport in July.

Yuee Ruan was sentenced in the local court to 14 months’ prison with a seven month non-parole period for a raft of fraud charges and for participating in a criminal group. One elderly woman was robbed of $130,000 she had saved for health issues.

A police fact sheet obtained by this masthead revealed 63-year-old Ruan approached multiple elderly women in public spots across Sydney, before convincing them their family members were cursed and would die in a matter of days unless they took part in fake rituals.

Ruan and her alleged co-conspirators travelled from China to Australia on June 1 this year and stayed in the southern Sydney suburb of Turrella.

There is a warrant out for the arrest of Weining Ren over her alleged contribution to the scam.

Police named her alleged co-offenders as 39-year old Weining Ren and 72-year-old Mingzhen Liu, with warrants out for their arrest. Liu’s alleged role in the fraud has not been detailed.

At 9am on June 2, Ruan approached a 77-year-old woman at a Hurstville shopping centre and suggested she try a versatile medicinal herb.

The pair walked to a nearby park, where the victim was introduced to Ren, who claimed to know the herb grower. As they conversed, Ren allegedly told the victim that her great-grandfather possessed supernatural powers and had “sensed something terrible”. The victim was allegedly warned that she and her family would die in three days because they had stepped over a pool of blood in their home.

The group discussed how this great-grandfather was a “powerful doctor who can perform rituals to save lives”, the documents stated.

Police say 72-year-old Mingzhen Liu is also wanted over the fraud.

Ren allegedly told the victim to go home and collect cash and valuables which would need to be temporarily sacrificed for the ritual, promising their return.

When the group later regathered at Hurstville railway station, Ren allegedly asked the victim to place $6300 worth of cash and jewellery in a black plastic blag that had been blessed by her great-grandfather.

The victim complied and was told to say the names of her children three times to complete the ritual. The fact sheet claimed she was given the black bag and told not to open it for a month for the ceremony to work.

Growing suspicious on her way home, the woman opened the bag and saw that the cash and precious belongings were gone.

From there, the alleged scam became even more callous.

The next person to fall prey to the group was a 71-year-old Chinese woman who was approached at Chatswood on Sydney’s north shore.

This time the victim handed over $28,000 worth of money and valuables. Also becoming sceptical, on the train trip home she opened the plastic bag to find her belongings replaced with a bottle of water and packets of noodles, the documents alleged.

On June 5, a 77-year-old woman was heading to a doctor’s appointment in Parramatta when she was approached by the group, who walked to the back of a nearby church and discussed the herb.

CCTV footage from Blacktown shows a 73-year-old woman being scammed by three unidentified women.

Ren soon claimed his great-grandfather had sensed the victim was being “haunted by a hostile animal spirit” and that her son had stepped on a pool of blood of a fatal car crash victim.

The trio went to the victim’s Cherrybrook home, where $130,000 in cash and various jewellery was picked up. Ren allegedly said the ritual had been performed remotely, and the woman only needed to put the cash in the “blessed” plastic bag and not open it for 28 days.

Eventually, this victim also became wary, opening the bag to discover that her cash had been replaced with a water bottle and noodles.

The fact sheet stated that the woman suffered “tremendous stress” due to losing her life savings which she had saved for health-related reasons.

“[The victim] is humiliated ... that she has fallen for this scam and is afraid to disclose the full extent to her family”, the court documents read.

On July 3, Ruan was arrested while trying to re-enter the country at Sydney International Airport. She was taken to Mascot Police Station and made admissions to being captured on CCTV, saying that she was “number two” in the scam and was paid to take part.

Police have warrants for the arrests of Ren and Liu, who they seek to charge with dishonestly obtaining a financial advantage, participating in a criminal group and intending to steal. They have not yet been charged with any crime and have admitted to no wrongdoing.