‘Disturbing trend’: Vancouver police warn of distraction thefts targeting seniors
Thirty-five seniors have been targeted in Vancouver this year, with $245,000 in jewelry and valuables stolen. Police say travelling crime rings are behind the thefts — and that families need to pay attention
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Janice Yang was gardening outside her home near Commercial Street and East 41st Avenue at about 9:30 a.m. on June 12 when a woman she didn’t know got out of a car, opened her gate and walked toward her.
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The 72-year-old backed away and called for her husband. Within seconds, the stranger grabbed the necklace from Yang’s neck, pushed her to the ground and ran back to the vehicle, her family said.
A neighbour’s security camera captured it. Her husband came outside in time to catch the licence plate number, and the family called 911.
“She started moving back, saying, ‘Excuse me, what’s going on?’ and then started screaming and calling for my dad,” said her son, Phillip Yang, who translated for his mother at a police news conference Tuesday.
Police have arrested and charged a woman, but Yang’s necklace hasn’t been found.
Yang came forward, her son said, because she wanted to help other seniors avoid what happened to her.
“She felt really nervous when it happened, but she just wanted her necklace back,” he said.
Her case is one of 35 distraction thefts reported in Vancouver this year, 11 of them in June and July alone. The Vancouver Police Department says the thefts have cost victims $245,000 so far in 2026, and on Tuesday they renewed a warning to seniors and their families.
Sgt. Tim Russell of the department’s robbery, assault and arson unit called it “a disturbing trend linked to organized criminals who think nothing of targeting elderly and innocent victims.”
The thieves approach on foot or in a vehicle and can strip a victim of jewelry in seconds, he said, often using sleight of hand to swap the real pieces for fakes. When someone resists, Russell said, “it’s not uncommon for the thieves to violently yank the jewelry from (victims).”
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The thieves are part of organized crime rings — Canadian citizens and foreign nationals — that criss-cross Canada in rental vehicles, staying in a city for a week or two before moving on, Russell said. The group in Yang’s case had travelled from Ontario, he said.
The crews can attempt up to 40 crimes in a single day, he said, and work in daylight, when seniors are outside.
Police haven’t identified any single community as a target. Russell said the thieves go after seniors precisely because they’re vulnerable. He noted Yang doesn’t speak English, which can make a theft harder to report, and said seniors are “targeted for these exact reasons.”
The number of thefts is down from last year, when Vancouver recorded 158 cases and $364,000 in losses. But Russell said the crimes are growing more brazen and sometimes more violent, as more seniors recognize what’s happening and try to fight back.
Most of this year’s cases — 17 — were in District 3, which covers the city’s southeast, including Sunset, Renfrew-Collingwood, Mount Pleasant, Killarney, Victoria-Fraserview and Kensington-Cedar Cottage. Police recorded nine in District 2 in the northeast — Strathcona, Grandview-Woodland and Hastings-Sunrise — and eight in District 4 on the west side, including Point Grey, Kitsilano, Fairview, Dunbar-Southlands, Shaughnessy, Kerrisdale, Oakridge, and Marpole. One was in the downtown core.
Distraction thefts aren’t new in Vancouver.
Police say they tend to resurface each summer, and the department has warned about them for years, at times running awareness campaigns aimed at senior communities in several languages.
Police have also flagged a separate scheme this year, the so-called “blessing scam.”
In those cases, suspects persuade an elderly victim — often by warning that a curse will fall on their family — to gather cash and valuables to be “blessed,” then remove them by sleight of hand. One woman lost more than $15,000 in cash and a gold ring in one case this year, police said.
Russell said the blessing scams are run by a different group and are counted separately from the distraction-theft numbers.
Police allege Amalia Stoian, a 35-year-old from Ontario, was one of three people who approached Yang, offering a gift before a female suspect tore off Yang’s necklace and fled in a rental vehicle.
Russell said the licence plate number the family provided let officers stop the car a short time later at Main Street and East 12th Avenue, where police found two women and a man and seized jewelry and cash. Stoian is charged with one count of robbery and is scheduled to appear in B.C. Supreme Court on Aug. 10.
To protect themselves, Russell urged seniors to keep jewelry hidden under their clothing outdoors, to keep strangers out of their personal space even if they seem friendly and to make noise if they feel unsafe.
He called the thefts “despicable.” If thieves can’t see the jewelry, he said, they’re less likely to target someone.
Anyone targeted should call 911.
Through her son, Yang urged seniors to stay mindful of their surroundings.
