A Guyanese man was arrested Wednesday in connection with what Royal Cayman Islands Police said was a counterfeit ‘black money’ operation.
At about 4.30 am, officers from the Drugs and Serious Crime Task Force carried out an operation at an apartment in the Treasure Island Resort that was initiated as a drug raid.
During the operation, police said they discovered the 47-year-old suspect had some items of counterfeiting paraphernalia – bottles, dyes, bleaches and blank pieces of paper said to be “bank note money” – that led officers to suspect that he was operating a ‘black money scam’.
The man was arrested Wednesday morning on suspicion of possession of counterfeit currency. He has not been charged.
A black money scam is where con artists attempt to fraudulently obtain money from a victim by persuading him or her that banknote-sized paper can be made into convincing counterfeit notes. For instance, the scammer will offer to make $100,000 in fake notes if the person agrees to pay $10,000.
The victim is then persuaded that chemicals are used to wash the “money”. A dark dye, usually black, is applied to the white paper “banknote”. The con artist then proceeds to wash the “banknote” in a jar filled with liquid which usually contains a real bank note.
To complete the scam, the real note is fished out about 10-15 minutes later and ironed to dry it out. The victim is then urged to spend the note at a nearby store, not realising that the jar with the liquid in it contained a real note and that the fake “black money” was left behind. .
The con is sometimes called the wash scam. It is common for the con artist to then take the real cash paid by the victim and leave the jurisdiction without delivering the fake cash, police said.
Detective Sergeant Michael Montaque of the FCU is appealing for anyone who has information about this particular scam to come forward.
“The suspect has only been on Island for a few days,” Mr. Montaque said. “It’s important that if anyone has been approached by him, or has parted with any cash that they contact us right away.”
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Seriously….is anyone falling for that!
The very first question that comes to mind is…..
Why doesn’t the guy asking for money to buy the chemicals, to unwash the existing money. Buy the chemicals himself, and just wash the money for himself. That way he keeps it all.
…..wow
There obviously is no end to fools who will part with their money for stupid schemes in hope of a killing; yet another example of the outcome of poor education and understanding of responsible social behaviour.
Old Hand, trust me plenty of highly educated folks get duped by these types of Scams. When working in NYC. I personally witnessed plenty of educated folks like Attorneys and Stock Brokers getting taken for their money in a simple game of Three Card Monte. I also have a close friend who has a degree in Psychology that fell for a pyramid scam and lost thousands.
From what I see it the ones without street smarts that can’t see these scams for they are, doesn’t matter what type of education they have..
There are variations of this. The victim might be asked to pick a note at random from a bag or box of black pieces of what is actually dyed paper. The selected note is then switched using sleight of hand for a dyed real note which is then dipped in a chemical. The chemical causes a reversal in the dye’s colour and magically reveals a proper note. I actually made a mock up to present in Court using a 1 bill.
Some of these scams can build trust over weeks or months so that the victim will give large or repeated sums of cash. They can involve stories about getting money out of a country, beneficiary of a will, money headed for destruction that has been dyed black and so on.
As surprisingly as it seems, many people are caught by this scam year after year including successful business people. So make sure the word gets around the communities – it is a scam and stay well away!
If you are stupid and greedy you get taken to the cleaners..! These crooks rely on people being greedy to be taken in. That old rule applies if it seems to be too good to be true it probably is..!)
Maybe we should adopt Muslim punishemnt rules, you would soon notice con artist if they are missing limbs.
Common sense,think about it why would sell you 100,000 worth of notes for 10,000 if something is too good to be true its usually a lie,its hard to believe people still fall for it. Theres a sucker born every minute,P.T. Barnham
This is not about selling or exchaning dyed money for real money. Their most ludicrous strategy is to persuade the victim to believe they win in lottery or a beneficiary heir of dead millionaire’s will, then here comes the dyed money as the object of payment. Definetely victims will pay for the chemical cost because of bigger value of winning/will they’re expecting.