'Magic' money found on beach
2012-12-27 11:00
East London - Fake bank notes - used in a
scam whereby paper "magically" turns into money - were found on an
East London beach, police said on Thursday.
A young child found a heap of photo-copied
money bundled into piles of R100 notes at Leaches Bay on Wednesday, said police
spokesperson Captain Stephen Marais.
"There were blank papers in between the
fake notes."
Police were called to the scene. Marais said
it was likely that the money had been used in a scam known as the "Black
Dollar Scam".
He said in this scam, criminals would
approach people, particularly the elderly, and promise them that if they handed
over their money, they could increase or even double the amount.
"They would trick the people by showing
them a box in which they would place blank paper in the size of notes."
The scammer would then add what they called a
"special chemical" to the paper. They would close the box and wait
about half an hour for the chemical to "work".
The con artist would then pull out some real
notes and put them on top before showing the box to the victim of the scam -
who now would believe the paper had turned into money.
"Once the victim paid over some money to
the agents to buy more 'chemical' the agents would disappear."
Marais said police had confiscated the fake
money found at the beach. He said people must not fall for these kinds of
scams.
"There is no get rich quick
scheme."
- SAPA
