A woman was arrested and charged with a hate crime for conning money out of vulnerable women, according to police in New York.
The New York Police Department said that they have arrested 44-year-old Xuekun Su of China, after being accused of convincing the women that there were curses on their families.
Su, who is currently in Brooklyn, was charged with second-degree grand larceny as a hate crime, second-degree grand larceny, third-degree grand larceny as a hate crime, third-degree grand larceny, fourth-degree grand larceny as a hate crime and fourth-degree grand larceny.
Her bail was set at $150,000 cash or $250,000 bond. If convicted of the top count, she faces up to 25 years in prison.
According to the criminal complaint, in the vicinity of Bay 22nd Street and 86th Street in Bensonhurst, Su and other individuals allegedly approached the victim, a 61-year-old immigrant of China, and engaged her in conversation, gaining her trust.
Su and the other individuals allegedly posed as psychics and convinced the victim that she or a member of her family would die because of a curse.
They allegedly convinced her that in order to rid herself of the curse, she needed to gather large sums of cash and jewels to be blessed in order to remove the evil spirits surrounding her family.
After the blessing, the victim was promised that the money and jewelry would be returned. The victim gathered approximately $140,000 cash and numerous pieces of 24-karat gold jewelry.
The victim then met with Su and others who instructed her to place the cash and jewels into a bag so that a “blessing” could be performed over them to remove the curse.
The victim was told not to open the bag for many days in order to break the curse. She opened the bag that evening and found that all of her cash and jewelry was gone.
She then contacted the police.
In another incident, in the vicinity of 48th Street in Sunset Park, Su and others allegedly perpetrated this scheme again, targeting a 54-year-old immigrant of China.
As in the earlier incident, the victim was told that a member of her family would die due to a curse. The victim was convinced that in order to have the curse removed, she had to have her valuables “blessed.”
Again, the victim was promised that her money and jewelry would be returned after the blessing.
The victim gathered approximately $19,000 in cash and numerous pieces of 24-karat gold jewelry, at which point the items in the bag were “blessed.”
The victim later realized that her cash and jewels were gone.
