A Chinese man who conned elderly victims of their life savings through a spiritual blessings scam has been rebuked in court over his opportunistic crimes.
Wen Wang, 63, began defrauding local residents after flying into Sydney as a tourist and wracking up $30,000 in gambling debts.
He and others in the group gained the confidence of victims by offering blessings over their wealth to heal illnesses, remove curses and eliminate misfortune.
"Mr Wang what you've done was really opportunistic - it was an abhorrent offence," magistrate Emma Manea said after sentencing him on Wednesday.
One of his victims believed their sister's skin condition was connected to a perceived "haunting" by a ghost.
Wang told another he could remove a curse after their son died in a terrible accident.
The scammers would ask their victims to place money or valuables into an envelope.
They'd then swap these items out for something worthless, telling their marks not to open it up for some time.
The 63-year-old was arrested and placed behind bars in July after a police investigation into 75 scams across the Sydney metropolitan area.
He sported white hair, prison greens and glasses as he watched the Parramatta Local Court hearing from Silverwater prison in Sydney's west, aided by a Mandarin interpreter.
Wang had taken advantage of vulnerable members of the Chinese community, seizing the life savings they had worked so hard for, Ms Manea said.
He played a pivotal role supporting the wider criminal group, she found.
The 63-year-old was given a sentence discount of 25 per cent thanks to his early guilty pleas in November to three fraud charges.
In sentencing Wang, Ms Manea also took an additional charge of participating in a criminal group into account.
Wang was given a maximum sentence of 14 months with a non-parole period of seven months which expired on Tuesday.
He will soon be released from prison and then taken to an immigration detention centre for deportation.
His 63-year-old co-accused Yuee Ruan received the same sentence in November.
She travelled to Australia to take part in the criminal group and was arrested by NSW Police trying to depart Sydney International Airport in July.
