TVH Fundraiser for ESEA elders victims of 'Blessing Scam'
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My name is Tuyet Van Huynh, a British-Vietnamese-Chinese London based Digital Producer. It breaks my heart to share this story but it is extremely important to reach out and work on raising awareness about the global crime known as 'Blessing Scams'.
In raising awareness, we can contribute to preventing further crimes, safeguarding vulnerable individuals and helping the British East and Southeast Asians (ESEA) elders who have fallen victim to find a space to heal and restore their faith in humanity.
These words are difficult for me to write but I’ll try to be as clear as possible and provide links at the end to give you further insight into the various cases that have been reported worldwide.
In May 2024, my 70 year old mother was a victim of a ‘Blessing Scam’. I will never forget the terror in her voice when she called. She is the only person in my life who has held me with strength and power, who nurtured the fighter in me. To hear her scream in fear and confusion, to hear her sobbing as she described being drugged, manipulated and robbed of life savings and valuables by three Chinese women, her voice breaking as it did will haunt the rest of my days.
It still feels surreal that it has happened, that is happening to others, and that it will keep happening, unless we do something.
WHAT IS THE ‘BLESSING SCAM’?
It is a con, a confidence scam where criminals manipulate our elders into handing over all their savings and valuable items. They do this by offering to hold ‘blessing rituals’ to get rid of the evil spirits or ghosts who will harm our families.
The criminals typically operate in packs of three and are usually women of Chinese ethnicity. They go to places where our ESEA elders frequent to purchase fruits, veg and daily goods. There, these criminals approach our ESEA elders, elders who are always alone, and claim to be healers.
They state that the benefits of blessing rituals, emphasize the threat of evil spirits or ghosts, instilling fear in our elders, then offer to rid them of this threat. Their ceremony requires the victim to gather their valuables, reflecting the common religious motif of providing something of value in order to gain value.
The criminals insist on collating life savings and valuables into a bag. This goes as far as taking victims to ATM machines, asking them to withdraw everything from their account(s), going home with them, insisting they add necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings and cash into the same bag. Then, they leave the house with our elders, return to where they met to perform the blessing. Here, they swap the bag with another void of their belongings. This is not discovered or realised until our elders return home, wake from the daze they have been put under, and slowly piece together what happened.
THE TECHNIQUE.
It is still difficult to determine exactly how it is done, but from what I can extrapolate, they employ one of or a combination of:
1. A form of hypnotism.
2. A drug known as 'Devil's Breath'.
3. Manipulation.
4. Trust-Building.
This is consistent with reported cases. The criminals prey on ESEA elders who frequent markets across London on their own. They criminals speak in a common language which our elders can communicate in, mostly reported Cantonese, which gains immediate trust as it is a native tongue. The criminals also know most ESEA elders hold very strong superstitious beliefs which they exploit to their advantage. The criminals also know that ESEA elders keep a lot of their valuables and cash at home - typically in thousands of pounds, as it is their life savings.
It is hard to determine if the ‘Devil’s Breath’ was used in my mother’s case, but it usually is and it explains how my mother - who is usually a very guarded woman - was manipulated. The patterns are:
At the beginning of the scam one of the criminals establishes physical contact with the victim and maintains it throughout the scam. This is how the drug, ‘Devil’s Breath’ is administered.
The criminals tell the victims to switch off their phone. This ensures there is no interference with the effects of ‘Devil’s Breath’.
The criminals also tell victims that any external interruption - such as a phone call or message - will stop the blessing from working.
During the scam the victims behave completely normal and follow the criminal’s instructions with no doubt or hesitation - this is the effects of the drug.
After the scam is completed and the criminals vanish and the victims eventually recall what happened with fragmented memories coming back slowly over 48 hours.
More information on the ‘Devil’s Breath’ in the links below.
THE AFTERMATH.
Since this traumatic event, my mother, my siblings and I have discovered numerous cases in East Ham, Walthamstow, Lewisham, Upton Park and Romford, Woodgreen, occurring within months of each other over the last few years. Through extensive research we have discovered that most cases are not reported because our elders feel ashamed and don’t want to expose themselves.
My Mum has been through hell. She still finds it difficult to talk about what happened and has impacted on her health. It has taken weeks for us to get her to eat properly. She hasn’t slept well since. She is scared to go outside. She doesn’t want to talk to anyone. She has lost trust in people. She feels so ashamed. And she still has yet to accept that her life savings and all her valuables are gone.
The road to healing is a long, but quoting my mother, she will take this ‘nightmare to her grave and will never forget what happened’.
My siblings and I are spending a lot of time with her and it breaks us emotionally day after day. We want her to find her self again, to her confidence and find the strength to go out on her own and believe in the goodness of people.
WHAT IS THE FUNDRAISER FOR?
The funds raised will serve three purposes:
1. Pay for professional counselling sessions with a multi-lingual ESEA councillor. After deep research, I have found one who speaks Cantonese, Chinese and Vietnamese fluently. The recommended sessions are between 8 -18 depending on the severity of the case. Each session costs around £70.
2. Give money to the elders whose life savings and valuables were stolen. We aim to help each victim found. This may not cover all that was taken, but it will go some way alleviating stress, and to help them in their remaining years.
3. To build a national campaign to spread further awareness in order to prevent this from happening. My siblings and I were able to get CCTV footage from local businesses, people in the area with ring cameras, and my mum’s ring camera. We were able to construct mugshots which we will use as part of the campaign.
THIS WAS PAINFUL TO WRITE.
If you are concerned, but are unable to contribute financially, you still matter, your voice matters, contribute that. Please spread this information to your network and tell friends and families of this crime. Please keep our elders safe.
If you have the time, please click through the links below to find out more, and email me should you have any questions.
Thank you so much for reading this.
I appreciate any help you may offer.
The Blessing Scam - Links:
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskLosAngeles/comments/1cl66lg/is_there_a_scam_going_on_targeting_chinese/?share_id=ChseABXGKZRwJAvV2ShDY&utm_content=2&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_source=share&utm_term=3
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5919329/Asian-scammers-targeting-elderly-Chinese-women.html
https://sfstandard.com/2024/04/04/blessing-scam-san-francisco-victim-chinese-sunset/?utm_source=native_share&utm_medium=site_buttons&utm_campaign=site_buttons
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11836976/Three-arrested-in-Paris-over-devils-breath-drug-that-turns-victims-into-willing-zombies.html?gsid=8964fa5b-204e-468a-95fa-272d762ef401
Devil’s Breath - Links:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/shortcuts/2015/sep/02/devils-breath-aka-scopolamine-can-it-really-zombify-you
Organizer
Tuyet Van Huynh
Organizer