Two Liberian nationals were arrested in South Okkalapa Township this week after they attempted to defraud a local company using the ‘black money’ scam.
According to Eleven, the scammers showed the company a cache of black papers, claiming they could be transformed into US dollars when treated with a ‘special ink’. The con artists said their batch of special ink was tainted and asked the company for US$4,500 to buy a new supply in exchange for a portion of the soon-to-be cash.
The ‘black money’ scam is a well-known example of advance fee fraud, in which the scammers send out millions of emails hoping for nibbles of interest from naïve folks around the world. When they find a target, the scammers include a few real banknotes among the worthless black papers and demonstrate the process of washing the notes to reveal real currency. Victims are expected to front the money for the chemical solution and then are left with a few dollars and a bunch of black trash.
According to Yangon police, the scammers had attempted the trick on the South Okkalapa company twice before.
In January, a Liberian man named Raymond San Cho was arrested by Yangon police after paraphernalia for a ‘black money’ scam was found in his room at the Olympic Hotel in Yangon’s Yaw Myin Gyi area. He was sentenced to two years in prison with hard labour in July. (He was sentenced to an additional two years in September for gem smuggling.)
The scammers are now being held at the South Okkalapa police station.
Dear readers, if anyone ever has the chutzpah to try the ‘black money’ scam on you, hold onto the evidence and call the police. You may end up with a couple moist $100 bills.
