'Nuns' target elderly in con

By Zou Qi  |   2008-6-11  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

POLICE have issued a warning about confidence tricksters who tell people they can protect them from evil.

The warning against the con artists, who target middle-aged and elderly residents to swindle them out of money and jewelry, comes as police revealed the number of thefts in Shanghai has jumped 30 percent.

The Shanghai Public Security Bureau said there were 4,190 thefts reported between May 19 and June 1, an increase of 30 percent over the previous two weeks.

The bureau said the fraudsters worked in groups of two or three. In one case, they said an elderly woman surnamed Li met two "nuns" in her residential community who told her they could pray for her family's safety.

Li invited them to her home. After burning incense, the women told Li that her family could suffer a disaster in which someone might die.

Fearing for her relatives' lives, Li asked them how to avoid the disaster. Following their instructions, she took off her necklaces and rings, wrapped them in a 100-yuan (US$14) note and handed the package to the two women. They made a parcel of the jewelry and cash and warned Li not to open it for two days.

After waiting for two days, Li opened the parcel, but found that the jewelry and the cash were no longer there.