STREET deception keeps evolving. Now scammers have come up with a new way to trick people into paying them thousands of yuan for something that they had put into the victims’ ears.

    Futian police have recently busted a criminal gang and caught five suspects who allegedly set up stalls in crowded public places to pick people’s ears free of charge. When curious victims agreed to have their ears picked, the suspects would lie to the victims, telling them there were blood tumors in their ears which would be life-threatening if not removed. They also told the victims that it would be very expensive to have the tumors picked out at the hospital.

    Once the scared victims agreed to be “cured,” the scammers would put unidentified stuff into their ears and claim that they had picked out the tumors before charging thousands of yuan as a “treatment fee.”

    A man, surnamed Wang, living within the jurisdiction of the Huafu Police Station, fell victim to the scam. He was defrauded 4,600 yuan (US$669.76) and HK$20 (US$2.58) by five men near a wet market Feb. 18. Wang told the police that two other people were cheated out of 2,800 yuan and 4,800 yuan, in the same way.

    Surveillance camera footage obtained by officers at the Huafu Police Station shows that five suspects had arrived at the place near the wet market at about 9 a.m. and left in a taxi at about 1 p.m. after succeeding in their fraud.

    With clues acquired from camera footage, the police finally caught the five Wednesday.

    An investigation revealed that all the five suspects had a primary school education and were not employed. They had been selling fake medicine and tricking people out of money by “picking ears” in Shenzhen.

    As most of the victims were elderly people living in or near the Hufucun housing estate, officers at the Huafu Police Station decided to put up a self-made signboard, seeking more victims Thursday. They’ve found one more victim using this method.

    The case is being investigated. (SD News)