This analysis compiles and standardizes reported incidents of robberies targeting Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities across the United States between July 2018 and December 2024. Drawing from news reports, it identifies patterns related to victim demographics, locations, modus operandi, and items stolen. The goal is to provide a clear, data-informed picture of how racial and ethnic targeting shapes these crimes, in order to support advocacy, community safety efforts, and policy responses. Standardized metrics are applied throughout to ensure consistency across varied sources.

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Key Takeaways

Ethnic targeting is widespread and intentional

• 399 incidents targeted individuals identified as Asian, and 86 as Indian/South Asian—many explicitly due to racial/ethnic stereotypes.
• Abington Police Department (Philadelphia metro area): ”This is a particularly disturbing, and nation-wide crime trend where organized groups of thieves are targeting the homes of Asian American business owners due to the stereotype that Asian business owners have items of high value in their homes.”

Gendered pattern of targeting: women are disproportionately victimized

• Of the 485 total victims, 130 were identified as female.
• Women are targeted based on the assumption that they are less likely to resist and more likely to carry valuables.
• In California, 100 Asian women were robbed, many while walking alone: “They thought Asian women don’t use banks and made other ethnic slurs…”

Victims are sometimes elders, but age is frequently unspecified

• 35 victims identified as elders, including elderly South Asians targeted during Diwali season, when wearing gold is customary.
• Some cases involved elders being approached under false pretenses—e.g., offering a blessing or help before stealing jewelry: “They use hugs or jewelry exchanges to distract and steal or swap real gold with fakes.”

Homes are the primary targets

• 295 incidents occurred in victims' homes, compared to just 6 in businesses and 20 at places of worship.
• Robbers surveil and follow business owners home: “The suspects have been known to conduct surveillance of the Asian-owned businesses to learn the life patterns of the owners, and then follow them home from work to learn where they live.”

Targeting is sometimes pre-planned and organized

• At least 37 incidents involved following victims, and 30 used deception such as fake blessings or feigned assistance.
• Organized crews often carry out surveillance and plan strikes during festivals or donation-heavy periods (e.g., Diwali, temple events): “Investigators believe that the reason for why the Wat Busayadhammavanaram Buddhist Temple was targeted was because the temple received large amounts of donations that November, something the thieves were aware of beforehand.”

Items stolen often include inherited and sentimental valuables

• Most articles didn’t specify stolen items (437 cases), but when reported: jewelry (26), cash (21), handbags (1)
• Many stolen items were family heirlooms or donations, not just luxury goods.
• MA robberies: “$4 million worth of gems... items passed down in families from generation to generation.”

California and Washington have the highest concentration of incidents

• California (208) and Washington (63) had the most reported incidents, followed by Massachusetts (53) and Oregon (40).
• These states also host large Asian American populations and serve as major hubs for Asian-owned businesses.

Language barriers and mistrust of police are exploited

• Suspects believe Asian Americans are less likely to report crimes due to language difficulties or cultural mistrust.
• This perception leads to repeated targeting and low fear of law enforcement accountability.
• Deputy Police Chief, Bob Winn: “They’re acting under the misbelief that the Asian community is distrustful of police and will not report these crimes.”

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Methodology

This analysis draws from publicly available news reports, police statements, and press releases published between 2018 and 2024 across multiple states. Incidents were manually reviewed and categorized based on the following variables: ethnicity, gender, age group, location type, modus operandi, items stolen, and state.

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Limitations

Incomplete or vague reporting

• Many sources do not specify critical details such as the age or gender of the victim, exact number of incidents, or what items were stolen. As a result, categories such as “Unspecified” appear frequently in the dataset.

Non-exhaustive dataset

• This analysis does not represent every robbery involving AAPI victims nationwide; it only includes those that were publicly reported and accessible during the research period.

Ambiguity in motive

• Not all incidents included were formally charged as hate crimes. However, many were identified by law enforcement or community reports as racially or ethnically motivated, based on patterns of targeting, suspect statements, or use of slurs.

Standardization choices

• The decision to apply a placeholder number (5) for ambiguous groupings, and to merge ethnicity labels under broader categories, may under- or over-estimate certain counts. These choices were made to improve clarity while acknowledging potential inaccuracies.

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