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The blessing scam, also called the "ghost scam" or "jewelry scam", is a confidence trick typically perpetrated against elderly women of Chinese origin. The scam originated in China and Hong Kong and victims have fallen to it worldwide including in Chinatowns and overseas Chinese communities. The object of the scam is to persuade the victim to put valuables into a bag, which the perpetrator then secretly swaps for a different bag, enabling them to take the valuables. ==Operation of the scam== The scam typically requires three people. One approaches the victim and casually begins a conversation, introducing the topic of a certain healer, herbalist, traditional doctor or psychic. The second con artist, a shill, appears to coincidentally overhear the conversation, and states that they know of and have been helped by the healer in — for example, that the healer cured their broken hand or healed their mother after a stroke. This provides social proof, lending credibility to the first con artist's depiction of the healer's powers. The two then persuade the mark to visit the healer. In some variants, they happen upon a relative of the healer who also is purported to have special powers; in others, they meet the healer himself. The healer then states that a ghost or spirit is following the mark, and that a family member is in danger or some other ill is about to befall her. The healer offers to perform a blessing ritual to get rid of the evil spirits or ghost. The purported blessing ceremony requires the mark to put valuables in the bag, reflecting the common religious theme of needing to provide something of value in order to gain blessings. The mark is encouraged to put as much valuable content in the bag as possible. A prayer is then said over the bag containing the valuables, and the mark is reassured that the ghost has been banished, but that to preserve the effect they should not open the bag for some long amount of time. Unbeknownst to the target of the scam, the bag containing the valuables was swapped during the ceremony for an identical bag containing valueless objects — newspaper instead of cash, for example. When the target opens the bag a month later, she realizes that she has been scammed out of all her money. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Blessing scam」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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