(Photo : GETTY IMAGES) This monk is legit: Chinese Buddhist monk Dao Yuan, 51, stands in front of a statue of the Buddha at the Ji Xiang Temple and nursing home on March 17, 2016 in Sha County, Fujian province, China.


Police arrested three men who persuaded a woman to pay thousands of yuan for a ritual.



In January this year, the 60-year-old woman surnamed Ge walked into a store that sells joss sticks and candles near Yufo Temple. Inside the store was a man dressed as a monk and chanting near a Buddhist statue. Ding, the owner of the shop, told Ge to give her name, birthday, and mobile phone number so the monks can pray for her.



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Other men dressed as monks then entered the store and chanter "prayers" for Ge for half an hour. When she was about to go, Ding told her that the ritual costs 9,300 yuan, but she only had 200 yuan. Ge told police that Ding and the men scared her and told her that she will have bad luck if she didn't pay.



Afraid of the threat, Ge withdrew 9,100 yuan and paid the "monks." She called the police several days later after realizing that she had been scammed.



Three men involved in the scam was arrested in Shanghai's Jing'an District last week.




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