KUALA LUMPUR: An African couple were arrested over a ‘black money’ scam when police raided a house on Jalan Riang Ria in Taman Gembira, here last Tuesday.
The suspects, aged 36 and 37, whom police described as “lovers”, were just planning to start their operations in the city centre when they were detained.
Pails filled with fake foreign currency notes and other items used to make the fake money were also seized during the 6pm raid.
City police chief Commissioner Datuk Seri Mazlan Lazim said the scammers, who would be part of a syndicate, would conduct demonstrations to show how ‘washing’ ringgit notes could magically turn them into US dollar notes.
“To make it even more convincing, the syndicate would then ask their victims to take the note to a money changer to prove it is authentic,” he told a press conference at the city police headquarters here today.
The victim would then be persuaded to pay for a chemical solution that is used to “wash” the money.
Mazlan said the first few notes that emerged would normally be authentic but the rest, with face value that could reach RM100,000 would be fake.
He said the couple would be investigated under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating and Section 511 of the same legislation for possessing forged or counterfeit currency notes.
He advised the people to remember that there was no such thing as easy money and that the scammers would continue to prey on the greed of victims.
