A good ghost scam is apparently hard to keep down.

Stories began surfacing in San Francisco earlier in the year about older Asian women being approached on the street by other Asian women who convinced them that they were cursed, with ghosts attached to them. The only way the older women could rid themselves of the curse was to go home and gather up their jewelry and valuables, put them in a bag and bring them back to the suspects for a purification ceremony.

After the ceremony, the older women were sent home and told not to look in the bag for a few days. Needless to say, the bags had been switched and were now empty.

San Francisco police arrested three people in May—carrying $50,000 in cash and jewelry—as they were about to board a plane for Hong Kong, and accused them of having bilked a number of women out of $850,000 worth of valuables. Police Chief Greg Suhr said they had broken up an “organized crime ring” with links to similar scams in cities across the country.

By then, 25 women had come forward to complain about being swindled. Thirteen were over the age of 65.

However, there are still wicked spirits lurking about the Bay Area and last weekend two more women in the their 60s reported being fooled into turning over bags of valuables worth more than $35,000. They said that multiple people had approached them on the street in Chinatown and told them they had stepped in blood and now were visibly attached to wicked spirits.

One of the incidents was captured on video, although the ghosts are not visible.

–Ken Broder

To Learn More:

More Victims Duped by Weird Asian Ghost Scam (by Erin Sherbert, SF Weekly)

SFPD Bust Suspects in Weird Ghost Scam Targeting Asian Women (by Erin Sherbert, SF Weekly)

SF Cops: Crooks Targeted Superstitious Asian Women (by Vivian Ho, San Francisco Chronicle)

Police Warn Residents of Weird Chinese Ghost Scams (by Erin Sherbert, SF Weekly)