How Would Anyone Get Fooled by This?

[jon]

I usually find myself feeling sorry for people who are scammed, but this one has me puzzled. Why would anyone fall for it? Maybe it is just one of those times when you really do have to "be there" to understand.

Or maybe the scam artists just search out business vendors who have been smoking marijuana in the last hour or so. "Hey, man, is that ever cool?"

Money scam hits Edmonton shops
Counterfeit squad investigates case of magically transforming 'cash'
By Julianna Cummins, edmontonjournal.com
June 30, 2011 6:43 PM
ref. - http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Mon ... story.html

EDMONTON — Edmonton police are targeting a scam involving two men who convince vendors that pieces of paper will turn into legitimate cash when washed with a chemical.

Police say the men approach a salesperson and express an interest in paying cash to buy an item, usually worth tens of thousands of dollars. The men, posing as refugees from an African country, typically meet with vendors several times to gain their trust.

Many of the targets are people selling goods on the online classified site Kijiji, Edmonton police detective Dennis Tetreault said.

They meet with these people in parking lots, restaurants or hotel rooms, Tetreault said. Many of the victims are down on their luck and hopeful for a big sale.

“It’s a bit of a sob story,” Tetreault said.

The victims are shown a $50 Canadian bill placed between two pieces of what appear to be plain, white paper. The paper is the same size as the bill.

The white pieces of paper are covered in a coating that is sometimes made of white glue, Tetreault said.

In front of the victim, the men then wash the paper in a chemical, police say.

The white pieces of paper then turn into two additional $50 bills, leading the victims to believe they will receive genuine cash covered in a coating that can be washed off. The bills used in this initial demonstration are usually authentic, Tetreault said.

The men tell the store staff they can only pay for the goods using the white pieces of paper.

They claim the Canadian cash had to be disguised to get it out of their native countries, Tetreault said.

When the transaction is completed, the business is left with white photocopy or black construction paper.

“The guy is left holding a box of worthless paper,” Tetreault said.

Edmonton police have seen a handful of these cases the past few years, Tetreault said.

A recent high-profile arrest of two men in Calgary prompted the Edmonton police raise awareness about the scam.

Calgary police charged two Montreal men after they attempted to pass off slips of plain paper as cash for four boats from Glenmore Sailboats. The boats were each worth $20,000 each.

Tetreault said the two men arrested in Calgary were in Edmonton in [sic] some point.

Police, however, do not know if the two men involved in scamming Edmontonians are the men arrested in Calgary.

[Howaboutthat]

No matter what the 'victims' say, it all comes down to one word: Greed.