On May 8th at approximately 10:00 a.m. the 72-year-old female victim was walking down the sidewalk near 5th Avenue South and South King Street. Two unknown female suspects in their 50’s approached the victim and told her that her family was in danger (as they walked through the International District a third female suspect in her 50’s eventually joined the group).
The suspects were able to con the victim into withdrawing $50,000 cash from her bank account and providing it along with $20,000 worth of jewelry to the suspects to be “blessed” so that the victim’s family would not be harmed.
The victim provided the suspects the cash and jewelry in a backpack. The suspects then turned the victim away and told her to not look back. The victim walked back to the bus station at which point one of the suspects returned the backpack to the victim and told her not to open the pack or tell anyone for one week or the “blessings” would fail to protect her family.
On May 15th the victim opened the backpack and found that it contained flour, tapioca, and water bottles. Her cash and jewelry were gone. The victim notified her daughter of the incident and together they reported the incident to Seattle Police on May 16th.
The suspects remain at large. This is an active an on-going investigation.