Woman says hypnotist thieves talked her into robbing herself

A 57-year-old woman told police that three strangers chit-chatted with her in a store in Chinatown, then compelled her to go home and fill a plastic bag with jewelry and her $160,000 life savings and bring it to a rendezvous point. It might sound like a colorful insurance scam, but this alleged theft-by-hypnosis is being taken very seriously by city officials. Boston police have issued an alert, as stories of similar bamboozlements have trickled in from New York City, and community leaders warn there is a precedent of hypnotizing crime rooted "in Chinese lore." A Senior Center program director in Manhattan says she's heard a rise in complaints of entrancing thieves. "Before, you laughed at it, but these couple of months, it's a really serious problem."