Phony ritual swindles Thai-Chinese elderly out of millions of baht
By Kyle Lawrence Mullin

BANGKOK:-- It’s a story of cynical swindlers, superstitious victims, Chinese mysticism and millions of stolen baht.

Today The Bangkok Post reported that local police are “on the lookout” for Mandarin speaking gang members who have been luring elderly Chinese-Thai women into a scam disguised as a good luck ritual.

On August 3, three Chinese nationals— two women and one man, identified as 39 year old Sai Sianghua, 50 year old Liang Faying, and 67 year old Chen Mincheng— were arrested in connection with the con. Police seized 6,825 yuan (37,000 baht) and 13,770 baht cash from the trio, allegedly conned from local Chinese-Thai victims.

The con involves gang members approaching elderly shoppers at local markets, then warning them of looming misfortunate and bad omens, before inviting them to a ritual that promises to vanquish such bad luck.

Full story: http://asiancorrespondent.com/134834/phony-ritual-swindles-thai-chinese-elderly-out-of-millions-of-baht/

-- ASIAN CORRESPONDENT 2015-08-17

This is nothing new.

Every religious ritual and every religion are phony!

Look at the huge fortune the Catholic church has swindeled over the past 200 years..

And yes, it is all tax exempt.

If you are an adult with invisible friends..someone should take your money away from you,

you are obviously not responsible enough to take care of it yourself.

Ahhh but these are foreign scammers not the home grown variety!

Ahhh but these are foreign scammers not the home grown variety!

Yeah! The homegrown ones like to overprice phone numbers that are lucky or license plates with lucky numbers or try to scare you by telling they had bad dreams about you so you better listen to them. Or, going to temple to pay your way forgiveness for the bad you did or caused.

This is nothing new.

Every religious ritual and every religion are phony!

Look at the huge fortune the Catholic church has swindeled over the past 200 years..

And yes, it is all tax exempt.

If you are an adult with invisible friends..someone should take your money away from you,

you are obviously not responsible enough to take care of it yourself.

B4XcibpCQAAvhDe.jpg

"Look at the huge fortune the Catholic church has swindled over the past 200 500 years.."

Let's not get into televangelists, or for that matter Buddhist temples in this country.

This is nothing new.

Every religious ritual and every religion are phony!

Look at the huge fortune the Catholic church has swindeled over the past 200 years..

And yes, it is all tax exempt.

If you are an adult with invisible friends..someone should take your money away from you,

you are obviously not responsible enough to take care of it yourself.

B4XcibpCQAAvhDe.jpg

Religion, the longest running scam in the history of mankind..

If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people.

Just watch any of the videos from Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris or Richard Dawkins.

Unfortunate to get scammed but Thai Buddhists can be extremely superstitious and maybe quite open to this sort of scam.

Don`t buy a new shirt on Tuesday, no hair cut on Wednesday ...

And no sex on your birthday!

This is nothing new.

Every religious ritual and every religion are phony!

Look at the huge fortune the Catholic church has swindeled over the past 200 years..

And yes, it is all tax exempt.

If you are an adult with invisible friends..someone should take your money away from you,

you are obviously not responsible enough to take care of it yourself.

B4XcibpCQAAvhDe.jpg

"Look at the huge fortune the Catholic church has swindled over the past 200 500 years.."

Let's not get into televangelists, or for that matter Buddhist temples in this country.

"Look at the huge fortune the Catholic church has swindled over the past 200 500 1500 years.."

Churches and cathedrals don't come cheap (not to mention crusades).

Unfortunate to get scammed but Thai Buddhists can be extremely superstitious and maybe quite open to this sort of scam.

Don`t buy a new shirt on Tuesday, no hair cut on Wednesday ...

And no sex on your birthday!

I haven't bought a shirt for years though my wife buys the material and get someone to make it for me.

I get a haircut usually every 3 months or when I can't see my ears in the mirror to put my glasses on.

I have been married for 20 years, we have a son of 12 and I am sure my wife must think it is my birthday every day.