The black money scam, sometimes also known as the "wash wash scam", is a scam where con artists attempt to fraudulently obtain money from a victim by persuading him or her that piles of banknote-sized paper in a trunk or a safe is really money which has been dyed black (e.g. to avoid detection by customs). The victim is persuaded to pay for chemicals to wash the "money" with a promise that he will share in the proceeds.

The black money scam first appeared around 2000. It is a variation of what is known as advance fee fraud

Advance fee fraud

An advance-fee fraud is a confidence trick in which the target is persuaded to advance sums of money in the hope of realizing a significantly larger gain...

.

First contact

Typically the scammer will send out thousands, if not millions of e-mails to known and random e-mail addresses, hoping for a few replies. The initial message may read something like this:

I am a lawyer in Belgium and I am charged with seeking the rightful heir to certain assets which were deposited many years ago with a security company here in Brussels by a man who died a few years ago. We have made extensive searches to find any living heirs, but with minimal success. A man with your name is named in the Will and Testament as being the only beneficiary of these assets. We believe that you may be the person entitled and are writing to enquire if you have any dead relatives or friends who may have named you as a beneficiary of these assets in their will and testament. If so please let us have their names and any other information so we can check if you are indeed the beneficiary. The amount of the assets is $150,000 and one large trunk, contents unknown. Please reply immediately

Sometimes however, the scammer resorts to directly approaching the victim.

Advance fees: the fraud starts

As the communications between the two parties continue, it will become necessary for certain fees and expenses to be paid, including government taxes, or death duties. In reality, there are no such taxes to be paid. However the need to pay fees or taxes is used as an excuse to make any free funds vanish, and/or to extract funds from the victim.

A trunk full of black money?

Eventually by various means and devices the victim will be persuaded that the trunk contains a very large amount of cash which had a legitimate, or not so legitimate, reason for all this money to be in cash. Furthermore, the money has all been stained black to avoid detection by customs. A valid reason for this will be given: "The deceased traded in African artifacts and had to pay for some expensive items in cash before he died. To avoid customs problems and theft the money had to be stained black" The victim is assured that the chemical needed for washing the money is also in the trunk.

The victim may have already coughed up some money to pay fees and taxes, and he may now be invited to pay the shipping expenses of the trunk to his home country. Whether paid or not, the trunk will not be shipped and further sums will be demanded on various pretexts, such as taxes, security company fees, money transfer fees, legalization fees, export permissions, etc. The list is endless.

Victim goes to see the "money"

When at some point the victim is having doubts, or showing reluctance to pay any more, he will be invited to inspect the contents of the safety deposit trunk himself. With much ceremony and pomp, the box will be opened to reveal the black paper. The victim will be informed that these are stained black with an almost unwashable chemical but that a chemical exists which can clean the banknotes.

Washing a small sample of the black "money"

Then the conman will produce a small vial of the washing liquid and ask the victim to select any black bank note at random. This done, the conman proceeds to wash the banknote in the chemical, performing a sleight of hand

Sleight of hand

Sleight of hand, also known as prestidigitation or legerdemain, is the set of techniques used by a magician to manipulate objects such as cards and coins secretly....

, substituting a real note which is washed. There will be insufficient liquid to wash any more money, or the conman may "accidentally" knock the bottle over on the floor.

More funds needed to pay for washing chemical fluid

The victim cannot take away the trunk, or any notes, since he is informed that the taxes have not been paid, but once the notes are "washed", it will be easy to pay the taxes and there will be money left over. The victim is persuaded that he must buy the chemical to wash the notes, and of course the chemical cleaning fluid is "very expensive". Once again the victim parts with money to the fraudster. Sometimes the fraudsters will set up a website purporting to be a seller of the cleaning fluid, which obviously has such a unique and unusual name that it can not be found anywhere else. This adds to the credibility of the story and the victim may even contact the website directly to buy the fluid, allowing the conmen yet another chance to con the victim.

Delay after delay, more fees, no money

The fraudsters will continue to find excuses as to why the victim cannot have his money just yet, but will always promise it after one "last and absolutely final step", which obviously involves the payment of yet another fee by the victim. The scammers will continue to milk the victim until they are sure he has no more money, and that he cannot get any by begging and borrowing from friends or banks, or until the victim realizes that he is being scammed, and gets the police involved. Needless to say, the fraudsters themselves, and the victim's money, are usually long gone by the time the police are involved.

Reporting of the crime

Most such frauds are not reported by the victims for several reasons. Firstly they may feel terribly ashamed that they could be so naïve. Secondly, many of the scams will involve the victim knowingly agreeing to receive the proceeds of a crime - e.g. he may be informed that it is drug money

Illegal drug trade

The illegal drug trade is a global black market, dedicated to cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of those substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs by drug prohibition laws.A UN report said the...

, tax evasion

Tax evasion

Tax evasion is the general term for efforts by individuals, corporations, trusts and other entities to evade taxes by illegal means. Tax evasion usually entails taxpayers deliberately misrepresenting or concealing the true state of their affairs to the tax authorities to reduce their tax liability,...

 money, or simply stolen. Sometimes the scammer will have persuaded the victim to incriminate himself, e.g. by falsifying a document, or lying on a tax declaration etc. The victim may thus be reluctant to come forward and admit that he was knowingly participating in what he thought was a criminal scheme.

Terminology used in the scam

• The defaced money
  • Anti-breeze bank notes
  • Black Money
• The chemical
  • S.S.D. Solution
  • Vectrol Paste
  • Tebi-Manetic
  • Humine Powder
    • solid solution

Chemicals used

A Ghanaian native caught perpetrating the scam revealed to ABC News

ABC News

ABC News is the news gathering and broadcasting division of American broadcast television network ABC, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company...

 Chief Investigative Correspondent Brian Ross the tricks of the trade: Real hundred dollar bills are coated with a protective layer of Elmer's glue, and then dipped into a solution of tincture of iodine

Tincture of iodine

Tincture of iodine is a disinfectant, usually 2–7% elemental iodine, along with potassium iodide or sodium iodide, dissolved in a mixture of ethanol and water. As in the case of Lugol's iodine, the role of iodide and water in the solution is to increase the solubility of the elemental iodine, by...

. The bill, when dried, looks and feels like black construction paper

Construction paper

Construction paper is a tough, coarse, colored paper. The texture is slightly rough, and the surface is unfinished. Due to the source material, small particles are visible on the paper’s surface. It is used for projects or crafts....

. The trunk full of notes are real construction paper; When the victim picks a "note" for cleaning, it is switched with the iodine coated note. The "magic cleaning solution" is actually crushed vitami tablets dissolved in water. In another arrest, ordinary raspberry cool drink was found to be the "magic cleaning solution".

External links

• Secrets Behind 'Black Money' Scam ABC News
• Metropolitan Police Information on the fraud from the London Metropolitan Police Service
• BBC An article from the BBC on how a businessman was conned out of $742,000.
• What is black money? Find out what's considered to be black money.
• Two conmen in dollar bill hoax arrested Gulf News
  Gulf News
  Gulf News is a daily English language newspaper published from Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates with a December 2009 BPA audited circulation of over 117,036 qualified copies...
  
  article from December 2003.
• Fraudaid How to do it.
• IOL Cops arrest 'black dollar' victim October 2007