This might look as if it is taken from a mafia movie, but it happens around the world on a regular basis. After developing a quick friendship, the scammer approaches his victim by showing him a car trunk full of millions of dollars, in banknotes.
All the banknotes are painted with a black coat so that, the scammer says, the money was able to pass through customs undetected. The problem now is the removal of the paint. The only substance that will remove the coat while keeping the notes intact is very expensive.
The deal that the scammer suggests is you give him cash for the remover – which has to be several bottles, since there are a lot of banknotes – and he’ll give you a percentage of the whole amount of banknotes. To be more convincing, he might have a “sample” of the remover in a mini bottle.
In front of you, he will pull one of the bills and use the magic substance: a real banknote will reveal, nice and clean! You decide to take the risk and – knowing that you will get $8,000 - you pay him a grand, so he could buy the chemical from one of his “connections”.
To show you that he is fair, he takes you with him when buying the substance (meeting with the seller in a different parking lot). After several bottles have been purchased, he gives you a couple, along with your “part of the deal”, from the trunk.
Excited, you go home but as soon as you start washing the notes, you realize that they are all just junk paper. The scammer had only a few bills painted when he showed you how it works, while the secret chemical is nothing else than colored water.
How to avoid: this was obviously illegal, so really if you get hammered, it’s your own fault. But to be kind, can we say, yet again, never strike a deal in a car park!