How mysterious Chinese spiritual group ‘Create Abundance’, which promised wealth and cancer cures, made itself at home in Vancouver

SCMP investigation shows founder of ‘Create Abundance’ emerged in Vancouver as principals set up companies and bought multimillion-dollar estates

Canadian police say murder victim Bo Fan was employed by the group but do not link it to her killing

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A speaker addresses an April 9, 2016, seminar held by the Create Abundance group at the Sheraton Vancouver Airport hotel. Murder victim Bo Fan was last seen near a Vancouver-area mansion linked to the group, which employed her, but police say they have no reason to suspect it was involved in her killing. Photos: Create Abundance/IHIT

Published: 5:05am, 22 Jul 2020Updated: 5:16am, 22 Jul 2020

All seems quiet now at the home surrounded by a three-metre hedge in an expensive neighbourhood of South Surrey in metro Vancouver.

But on June 17, the C$3 million (US$2.2 million) mansion was a hive of activity. Police cruisers were parked in the driveway alongside two Maseratis. Yellow caution tape blocked the entrances as officers came and went.

At 5.30am that day, 41-year-old Chinese immigrant Bo Fan had been dropped off outside the nearby Peace Arch Hospital. She was gravely injured – police have not described exactly how – and she died a few hours later.

The investigation into the mysterious murder is now casting a spotlight on a Chinese-origin spiritual group called Create Abundance – also known as Golden Touch – that police say employed Fan. But they do not link the organisation and Fan’s killing.

“She worked as an employee; she wasn’t a client … we’re confident saying that,” Sergeant Frank Jang of Vancouver’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) said on Tuesday, confirming details first reported by CTV News and The Breaker website.

This estate in South Surrey, which was the home of Create Abundance's “Rich Surrey Club”, is owned by a director of two companies linked to the group, one in the Bahamas and one in British Columbia. Photo: Ian Young

The group, which primarily targeted women, has been accused in Chinese state media of being a moneymaking fraud, based around quasi-religious self-improvement courses that promised wealth, happiness and miracles.