A woman from Sydney has been swindled out of $200,000 in a frightening ‘Chinese blessing scam’. Her family suspects she might have been drugged to go along with the scammer’s instructions.

Eighty-five-year-old Mei Lin* was tricked into surrendering her valuable jewelry and money after being approached by fraudsters in Homebush West. They convinced her that her possessions needed to be ‘blessed’ to protect her family from harm, on January 11, 2018.

Laina Chan, a close relative and barrister, alleged that the scam included the use of scopolamine, also called ‘devil’s breath’, which was blown onto Ms. Lin to drug her.

She mentioned that the police were skeptical when she pointed out that the fraud was part of a global scam and didn’t seem convinced about the use of the drug.

Ms. Lin feels ashamed for having been deceived and has not shared with her family her thoughts during the time she relinquished her valued items.

This scam supposedly began in China and Hong Kong in the early 2000s and has now reached international scale, with cases reported in the UK, US, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.

Elderly Chinese women are generally targeted with scammers exploiting cultural fears in the cruel con. 

Women are convinced their families are at risk from spirits and need to have their wealth blessed to protect them from curses or illness. 

Victims are tricked into handing over their prized belongings to be blessed, but once scammers are in possession of their money and valuables, the items are swapped with objects of no value.

Scammers encourage the women not to open their bags for an extended time following the ‘blessing’. 

Ms Lin was approached at a post box by a middle-aged Asian woman who claimed she was looking for a special herb needed to cure her injured daughter. 

A second woman pretended to overhear and said she knew a healer, before guiding Ms Lin away to a man who claimed to know the healer. 

The man shared his concern Ms Lin’s daughter would fall ill if her belongings weren’t blessed, and she was then escorted to her house where she filled a bag with $196,000 worth of jewellery.

She then withdrew $5,000 and added the cash to her bag.

Ms Chan said her relative doesn’t believe in ‘spiritual blessings’ and said the idea Ms Lin handed over money without being under the influence is ‘nonsense’.

‘There’s no way this would have happened but for the fact that they had used the drug and made her comply,’ she told The Sydney Morning Herald.

‘They come next to you, and they just blow a little bit at you, and you don’t even realise they’ve blown a little bit of a drug at you, and just enough to make you really compliant, so you’re hypnotised.’

Scopolamine can be used in some medications to treat motion sickness, but the potent drug can also disorient and incapacitate users.

Ms Lin has no recollection of when she handed over her bag, but she began to feel suspicious when she was told to keep the bag next to her bed for three months after it was returned to her. 

When she got home, Ms Lin opened the bag to find a bottle of water and two candles. 

She reported the scam to the police, but CCTV was never recovered and no arrests were made.  

The North West Metropolitan Region established Strike Force Sentinel to investigate these scams across Sydney from July 2023.

Police have received reports for over 80 incidents across Sydney, including including Ryde, Burwood, Parramatta and Hornsby areas.

More than $3million in cash and valuables has been stolen by scammers.

NSW Police have said ‘there is no evidence or inquiries being made into the use of drugs to facilitate the scams’.

In July, NSW Police charged two Chinese nationals and issued arrest warrants for seven others in connection with 85 reported scams over two years, which resulted in more than $3million being stolen.

They say at least 50 scammers, 25 of whom have been identified, have been counted since the investigation began in 2023. 

*Mei Lin is not the victim’s real name.