'Faith healer' Jailed - Hooray!

[Dubious Dick]

Plenty more out there who deserve the same treatment, including IMO cancer and other quacks:
http://www.cps.gov.uk/eastmidlands/news ... convicted/

[chaggle]

Mohammed Ashrafi ran a sophisticated operation to gain the confidence of his victims and showed no sign of stopping until he was arrested. His cynical campaign of dishonesty...

That could describe a homeopath... or a psychic... or a Catholic priest... or...

[Dubious Dick]

Mohammed Ashrafi ran a sophisticated operation to gain the confidence of his victims and showed no sign of stopping until he was arrested. His cynical campaign of dishonesty...

That could describe a homeopath... or a psychic... or a Catholic priest... or...

Indeed, although one could question how sophisticated some of the scammers are, or really need to be, when their victims can be so gullible and/or desperate.

Gord in Toronto over at IS posted the following, which shows this conman and an accomplice left a trail of victims across North America, before decamping to the U.K. Seems there were numerous opportunities for them to be caught and done over there, but none were taken. I am baffled by the reasons given for this:

'A big article in the Toronto Star today with the Canadian and US connection.

It includes a very good video by Balpreet Singh, Legal Council for the World Sikh Organization of Canada on the belief in God Men in India.

http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/20...to-the-uk.html

Quote:
When British police arrested a purported spiritual healer wanted in a series of peculiar frauds last year, word travelled quickly to Paramjit Bhullar in Woodbridge.

The suspect called himself “Kamal-Ji.” He wore white Indian kurta pyjamas, usually spoke in Hindi and allegedly gained the trust of victims before bilking them out of thousands of dollars.

Bhullar, 49, no longer cared about the money — $105,000 he gave to a holy man known as “Brother Roshan” in 2007 on the promise of a lottery win that never came. No, now it was about the others, scores of victims across North America who said that they, too, were suckered by false assurances and fantastical tricks.

Bhullar would soon be on a plane to England. He had a strong suspicion that “Kamal-Ji” was the man he had spent the past seven years hunting. This time, he told himself, the conman would not slip away.

From the star.com report that Gord posted above:

'It was an emotional day for Bhullar, who was in court for the verdict.

He says he will continue to push for Ashrafi to face charges in Canada. But for now, he is enjoying a rare moment of vindication, a feeling that has eluded him for years.

“I’m very happy,” he said, through tears. “I’m thankful to my God. God helped us.”'

While delighted that the conman has been got at last, and baffled as to why he was not caught and prosecuted before, what a shame that Bhullar felt he needed to invoke a god. It would be interesting to map victims with their religious beliefs. I suspect it is a reasonable assumption that most if not all are believers, and this would make a potentially interesting case study to see if that belief in one form of nonsense leaves open belief in other forms i.e. that religious believers are more open to being scammed and defrauded based on their willingness believe without good evidence.

I am interested in looking further into various 'sheikhs' who advertise regularly in The Metro as to whether any of them are up to the same or similar tricks. Some of the ads suggest they can undo black magic, and most seem to claim that they can solve or cure any problem.