Affinity is only skin deep

Fraudsters know no boundaries, even when it comes to their supposed friends and family. Affinity fraud is a particularly insidious crime in which fraudsters use their similar characteristics to others to gain trust — ultimately exploiting that trust for their own financial gain.

Cambodian fraud victims said that fellow immigrant Seng Tan arrived at their homes in a black Mercedes S500 to outline investment opportunities. With her Canadian-Cambodian citizen husband, James Bunchan, Tan impressed many of her uneducated fellow Cambodians with appearances of wealth and the way she dressed. Like them, Tan had fled the horrors of the Pol Pot regime. She knelt in their temple to pray, and they cried and laughed together over their shared experiences. The immigrant families, who didn’t have enough cash to invest, collected money from relatives, cashed out retirement accounts and took out equity loans on their homes. Fraud victim Tai Kim said she thought “God sent her here to help our community.” But instead of achieving their dreams, the victims lost nearly $30 million in a Ponzi scheme. (See “Alleged Pyramid Scheme Offered Kinship, a Dream” by Yvonne Abraham, Feb. 19, available for a fee.)