San Francisco Police officers provide Chinese New Year crime prevention tips

(SAN FRANCISCO) The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) provided crime prevention tips to members of the Chinese community to avoid to be victimized during the Chinese New Year.

Officers Eddie Wu and William Ma from the Community Relations Unit in SFPD were invited to speak at the Chinatown Chinese Christian Mission's annual crime prevention workshop before the Chinese New Year.

"Greed is one of the factors that likely make you become a victim of fraud by losing a large amount of money," said Wu. The fraud cases via phones and social media platforms to reach out to the victims have been on the rise in recent years.

Some victims of fraud have been Asian and Chinese Americans, including the blessing scam victims who were mostly elderly Chinese women. "Don't believe that you could make a lot of money by any investment. It was how you would easily become a victim of fraud," said Wu.

Wu investigated the blessing scams in San Francisco several years back. "There was no hypnosis against the victims by the suspects in the blessing scam cases. But the suspects knew very well how to persuade the victims to give them their life savings," Wu said.

In the past three years since the pandemic, more anti-Asian hate and violent incidents occurred. Many of the victims were seniors. They were robbed or attacked on the streets.

Wu advised that it would be safer for anyone to avoid walking on the streets alone. "Try to walk together with your family members and friends," said Wu.

"Not to withdraw or carry a lot of cash from the bank. Don't take a bus if you carry several thousands dollars of cash. Withdraw small amounts of money each time at the bank. If you really need to withdraw lots of cash, ask your children or grandchildren to go with you and drive you back from the bank," said Wu.

"If you find yourself to be followed by a stranger or someone who is suspicious, you may cross the street to see if the stranger still follows you. Or you may walk into a store to avoid the stranger," Wu suggested.

Whistles and hand alarms have been popular since the anti-Asian hate and violent incidents were on the rise at the beginning of the pandemic. Wu said the whistles and alarms would be helpful to get other people's attention.

Officer William Ma reminded all victims who were attacked to call 911. "If you don't speak English, learn to speak 'Chinese' in English. Then a Chinese interpreter would be online to assist you to call for police service," said Ma.