About 30 elderly members of the San Francisco Chinese community have been conned out of money and jewelry by several young Asian female con artists who have been preying on their cultural beliefs. The scenario involves these young women approaching lone, elderly women and telling them they are possessed by evil spirits, and saying that they can rid them of these spirits by putting their money and jewelry in a plastic bag and "purifying it." They then do a little switcheroo, putting junk or fake jewelry into the bag, and tell the women not to look inside the bag until after they've left.

The SFPD is concerned enough about the problem that they made the PSA below, introduced by state Senator Leland Yee, and then the rest of it is in Cantonese. It however shows stills of a dramatized series of events to illustrate what these con artist ladies do, warning elderly women not to fall for their trickery.

Anyone with any information about these suspects is asked to call Inspector Kim Lewis or Inspector Julie Yee of the Financial Crimes Unit at 415-553-1521 or text a tip to TIP411.

[NBC]