2013年8月23日 星期五

'Ghost' scam targets Chinese seniors

An immigration hearing for a Chinese national allegedly involved in a so-called blessing scam that has targeted Chinese seniors in Vancouver wont take place until next month. 

Youjun Huo and four women Xiao Qiong Lin, Shao Quiong Luo, Jianmei Wu and Ya Jian Yang were detained at Vancouver airport on July 15. The five were attempting to leave for Hong Kong when officers with the Canada Border Services Agency found they were carrying $148,000 worth of cash among them, as well as a large amount of jewelry concealed between the pages of magazines, in the lining of suitcases and inserted inside feminine hygiene products. 

On Wednesday, Huo appeared at an immigration hearing to determine whether he is inadmissible to Canada because of his alleged involvement in organized crime. The women detained with him are facing a separate immigration hearing.Dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, Huo, who appeared via video conference from the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre, hid his face by resting his head on a table as reporters and photographers attempted to take his photo. 

Earlier this month, Vancouver police appealed for victims of the long-running scam they have been investigating since June 2012. The department said it was aware of 13 reported cases in Vancouver.Often referred to as the ghost scam or blessing scam, the elaborate con game often starts with a group of three or four Asian women who speak Cantonese approaching an elderly Chinese woman on the street, according to police. 

The suspects tell their victims they are being followed by a ghost and that one of their children will die unless their money and jewelry is blessed immediately, police said. They then convince their victims that for $20,000 in cash and jewelry, they will sell them a lucky jade bracelet or a bottle containing blessed mystical water that will remove the bad luck. 

Once the victims hand over their cash and jewelry, the scammers perform a short blessing ritual, during which they steal the goods and replace them with worthless items, according to police. The victims are then told to not check the bag for a period of time and not to tell their family about it, otherwise the blessing will not work.During a July 18 detainment hearing, ministers counsel Marin Debruyn said there is a significant amount of evidence tying the five suspects to similar scams in Calgary and Toronto. 

A gold necklace chain and a gold desk clock were found in the seized luggage that was identified as belonging to a victim in Calgary, according to a transcript of the hearing. In another bag,Design and order your own custom rfidtag with personalized message and artwork. a significant number of gold bracelets and bangles were found that were tentatively identified as ones stolen in a Vancouver robbery in October 2012, the transcript reads. 

Similar scams have also been reported in New York, San Francisco and Australian newspapers.Queenie Choo, CEO of social service agency SUCCESS, which helps both seniors and new Canadians, said the crime is especially heinous because it preys upon vulnerable peoples beliefs, as well as their love of their own families. 

The Escambia County chapter of Habitat for Humanity is preparing for a big event today from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at The Hourglass in Brewton in an effort to raise funds for local home construction projects. Hard Hats and High Heels, a fashion event,You benefit from buying oilpaintingreproduction ex-factory and directly from a LED manufacturer: will feature local residents and business owners working together to prove that shoppers dont have to leave the local area to find fashions and accessories, while raising money for Habitat projects.Shop for wholesale tungstenrings from China! 

Alicia Glaize, director of the Escambia County Habitat for Humanity, said, with the completion of two projects just this spring,You must not use the stonecarving without being trained. funding for the next Habitat project is critical. 

Our financial resources for new projects was deplenished this spring and we are looking for ways to find some money to fund the next project, Glaize said. Habitat Restore certainly helps out with finances, but it just cant do it all. I saw a project by another affiliate that worked well for them and weve decided to adapt that for our community as a fundraising event. 

Glaize said she thought about organizing the event for Mothers Day, but there was not enough time to plan it. 

I thought it would be a good idea to try right here in our own town, but we didnt have time to get it together, so we decided to save it for this time of the year, Glaize said. Summer is coming to an end and fall weather will be here soon. It will be a combination of fashions, accessories and food. 

The price of a ticket is $10 in advance and $12 at the door, so everyone is advised to save shopping money by getting advance tickets. There are 17 booth spaces that have been rented out to local vendors to display their wares. Some of them are local businesses while some of them are home-based. 

We will have soft drinks available, along with hors doeuvres and there will be plenty of time for browsing, Glaize said. Everyone can browse, shop, visit, eat, hear good music (by Connie Baggett) and see friends and neighbors modeling the latest in fashion. During the last hour there will be a fashion show featuring fashions from some of the local businesses. 

The variety of colors and textures, sizes and shapes and the wide variety of unusual, handmade products makes a visit to the co-ops storefront at 26 Bridge St. feel like a trip to a high-end craft fair. But you dont have to brave crowds or the elements or drive to some faraway town: its all right there in downtown Shelburne Falls under the co-ops hard-to-miss, bright-orange awning. 

The co-ops 50-plus members produce paintings, photographs, fiber arts, pottery, jewelry, dolls, baskets, fused glass pieces, metal work, hand-cut paper images as delicate as lacework, along with many other unique and unusual items. Because any prospective members work has to be juried by current co-op members, the quality of work is consistently high. 

The co-op got its start in 1998, when basket-maker Christine Conniff and her friend Marianne Ives, tired of the crafts show circuit, decided to try opening a store. Conniff, who lived in Shelburne Falls for 27 years but now lives in Greenfield, said that the first store, at the same location on Bridge Street, was much simpler than the current one. Founding member Julie Hall Roth, a painter from Heath, agrees. 

We started with mostly apple crates covered with material, Roth said. We had a wooden jewelry display. 

In those early days, Roth thought the store might last six months. It was kind of rustic and yet we made it work. We really made it work! 

Roths assessment is no understatement: the cooperative is about to celebrate its 15th year in business this August no small accomplishment during hard economic times that have forced other galleries in the area out of business. 

Financially, our heads are above water, said current president Cheryl Denton, a fused-glass and stained-glass artist who lives in Shelburne Falls. She and others attribute the business success to its cooperative model. Because co-op members share the work as part of their member requirement, there are no salaries to pay, except to one bookkeeper. This helps keep overhead down.Are you still hesitating about where to buy paintingreproduction?
Read the full products at http://www.tilees.com/!

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