The article doesn’t tell us how these Chinese nationals came to be in Canada in the first place, but I’m assuming they were asylum seekers. Here in America the Chinese top the list of asylum-seekers who get across our borders and then ask for protection. Do you know that Chinese men can be granted asylum in the US just by saying they want to have more than one child (as is the rule in China)?
Here is the news from The Province to add to our expanding collection of immigrant scam stories. With this beautiful multiculturalism we learn something new every day!
All five Chinese nationals accused of taking part in a so-called “blessing scam,” or “ghost scam,” targeting Vancouver seniors were ordered to be deported from Canada this week.
The five deportation orders followed a yearlong police probe, guilty pleas to criminal charges and immigration hearings.
Youjun Huo, 41, appeared in an Immigration and Refugee Board hearing in Vancouver on Thursday.
Huo and four women – Xiao Qiong Lin, Shao Quiong Luo, Jianmei Wu and Ya Jian Yang – were detained at Vancouver airport on July 15 while trying to leave for Hong Kong. Officers with the Canada Border Services Agency found the five were carrying $148,000 in cash, plus a large amount of jewelry.
So what is the ghost scam?
Often referred to as the “ghost scam,” or “blessing scam,” as described by the Vancouver police, the crime involves Cantonesespeaking women targeting elderly Chinese women on the street.
The scammers tell victims they are being followed by a ghost and that one of their children will die unless their money and jewelry is blessed immediately. Once the victims hand over the valuables, the scammers perform a short blessing ritual, during which they steal the goods and replace them with worthless items, police said.
Det. Ivan De Silva of the VPD’s Criminal Intelligence Unit worked on the “ghost-scam” case. He said the crime is particularly heinous because it simultaneously preys on two things: the victims’ beliefs and also their love and desire to protect their families.