SIBU, Sept. 20 -- A trip to the market turned into a traumatic ordeal for a woman in her 70s after she was tricked into a so-called 'cleansing ritual' and lost jewellery and savings worth RM60,794.

Sibu police chief ACP Zulkipli Suhaili said the incident happened at Sibu Central Market on September 19 when the victim was approached by a woman asking for directions to a Chinese medicine shop.

"Another woman later joined in, enquiring about a place to perform a ritual to ward off misfortune.

"The victim was then persuaded to follow them to a nearby car park and entered a vehicle with three foreign women," he said in a statement today.

Inside the car, the women convinced the housewife that she was carrying a 'curse' that could harm her f...