subject: Nigerian Money Scam [print this page] Everyone would like to think that at some point in their lives a money tree will rain bills upon their heads and solve all their financial woes. Unfortunately, as they go through life they realize that the odds of that happening are nil and none. A newer scam which hit the streets sometime in 2000 became known as the Black Money Scam and is a high-tech trick that rivals that of magicians performing on stage.
The wash wash ripoff bears some resemblance to the other advanced fee ripoffs, differing only in that there is a container of cash involved to further hook the mark. The mechanics of the ripoff are relatively simple and yet devious, a mark is identified and contacted in some fashion and then convinced there is a container of real money and a few genuine bills are shown in their demonstration to further reel in the victim.
Marks are told that the money has been dyed black in order to avoid customs inspections and taxes. According to those who have been arrested, by coating money with white glue and either iodine or raspberry Kool-Aid, the money appears black.
Despite the handful of bills shown to you being real dollar bills, sleight-of-hand and trickery is used to prevent you from realizing that the rest of the money is just construction paper. One applies a series of chemicals to the real bill, making it turn green again, showing the victim that the rest of the bills can undergo the same process.
Marks are originally contacted via email after thousands or millions of memos have been sent to accounts found through either hacking of user accounts or by contacting accounts randomly. Of the few who will respond, contact will be made first via email then by phone which is why it's important to use telephone services such as reverse-phone-searching.info/540/268/ in order to verify that he or she are actually who they say they are.
Just as in the advanced fee scam, money will be requested in order to cover initial costs such as bribes, shipping fees, etc. This will go on with different reasons as long as the mark is willing to pay. When they become suspicious then the face-to-face magic trick will be presented at which time the mark will also have to sign a paper indicating they understand that the money was accrued through ill-gotten means or that it will be provided circumventing customs procedures and taxes.
All sorts of new scams take time for people to catch on, which is what makes scams so lucrative when they first begin, for the con man at least. On the other hand, regardless of whether or not the mark gets to keep the case in which the funds are said to exist, you have to keep in mind that you're being conned and you'll eventually just get robbed of all the money that you possess. If the con artist tells you to avoid opening it for fear of tampering with the dye through oxygen, you should be suspicious.
Like I wrote before, people have sent reports to the police about how they were conned in these Black Money Scams, leading to arrests. Despite your embarrassment at being conned so easily, it's worth it to inform the authorities, if only to prevent this same kind of fraud from happening to anyone else.
