Four accused of duping woman out of her belongings in 'blessings' scam

CNA

2 days ago

SINGAPORE: Three women and a man were charged on Friday (Jun 6) for their purported roles in a scam that involved at least one victim surrendering her belongings for religious blessings.
The man is Huang Ximing, 61, and the women are Zhong Weifeng, 58, Huang Qinyan, 47, and Huang Meiling, 56. All four are Chinese nationals.
Each was handed two charges of cheating in a conspiracy.
In a press release on Friday, the police said that they received a report on Jun 3 from a victim who was allegedly cheated by three women in Chinatown. Charge sheets provided more details on how this occurred.
Huang Meiling had initially approached the alleged victim seeking directions to a Chinese physician, when Zhong intervened and claimed that she knew of one.
Zhong added that consultations could only occur outside the premises due to overcrowding and wanted the victim to pose as her relative.
She then led them to Huang Qinyan, who claimed to be the physician, the police said. The victim was then told that she was "experiencing misfortune due to negative spiritual elements".
The police added that the three women and the victim then arranged to meet at Hong Lim Park, where they convinced the victim to surrender S$700 (US$544) in cash and a gold necklace with a "Guan Yin" pendant to the "Chinese physician".
Huang Qinyan, who was posing as the physician, then placed the items in a black plastic bag and performed an alleged blessing ritual, said the police.
The victim was instructed to store the plastic bag underneath her bed, unopened, for one month. The next morning, when the victim examined the contents of the plastic bag, she discovered that her valuables had been replaced with leaves.
The police said they received another report of a similar scam in the Clementi area on Jun 4.
In this incident, two women approached another victim and engaged her in conversation.
After noticing cash in the victim's bag, they convinced her to place her valuables into a black trash bag for "safekeeping", said the police. The victim later discovered that her money was missing.
Charges state that on Jun 3, 2025, at about 3pm, in the vicinity of Commonwealth Avenue West, the four engaged in a conspiracy to cheat the victim by deceiving her into believing that they had better equipment and techniques to safeguard her valuables.
The victim was allegedly deceived into delivering an envelope containing S$500 in cash to Huang Meiling and Huang Qinyan for custody.
Huang Ximing, Zhong and Huang Qinyan appeared in court via videolink, where a prosecutor applied to have them remanded for a week with permission to take them out for investigations.
This was to ascertain if there were other cases of a similar nature, if the accused had other accomplices, and to conduct scene visits to recover evidence.
Huang Meiling was charged separately.
The court granted the application and fixed a further mention for all four on Jun 13.
Through extensive ground enquiries and the aid of CCTV footage, the police were able to establish the identities of the accused.
All four were arrested on Jun 5. The victim's gold necklace was recovered from one of them, said the police.
Cash amounting to S$1,311 and 10,050 Chinese yuan (US$1,400) were also seized.
The police urged the public to be wary of strangers who claim to provide spiritual help or blessing services.
"No legitimate religious practitioner will ask for your money or valuables to be surrendered for any blessing ritual," said the police.
"If approached by someone claiming you have bad luck or need spiritual cleansing, do not engage with them and call the police immediately."