Two women lose RM600,000
18th October 2005 (Malay Mail)

Two professionals, one a senior lecturer with a doctorate from a university up north, fell for the African Black Money scam, losing RM600,000 last week.

Both women, in their 40s, borrowed heavily and mortgaged their homes to came up with the huge sum, thinking they could triple their 'investment'.

In the end, they lost all their savings and are heavily in debt after being cheated by an African.

The suspect, believed to be a Nigerian, was arrested. Police are checking on his nationality, as he is believed to be travelling on a fake passport.

The lecturer was the first to be conned when she answered an e-mail purportedly sent by the beneficiary of a dead African politician.

The sender claimed the politician had left millions of dollars in marked currency notes and needed someone generous enough to buy chemicals to remove the markings on the notes.

After a short correspondence, the lecturer met up with the African man at a hotel in the city where she paid him RM100,000 for the purchase of the chemicals.

Part of the money came from her savings and the rest were borrowed.

To convince the lecturer, the suspect gave her a guarantee letter purportedly from the lawyer acting on behalf of the dead politician.

Convinced that she could make millions from the transaction, the lecturer got a friend involved, encouraging her to come up with RM500,000.

The friend mortgaged her house and took a bank loan to come up with the money which was handed over to the same suspect.

Both of them, however, lodged a police report last week when the suspect demanded more money in exchange for the marked notes.

Acting on the report, a police team arrested the suspect. Only a small amount of cash was found on him.

It is believed he had wired the money to his accomplices overseas.

The Malay Mail on numerous occasions had reported on the Black Money scam. In May, two victims lost some RM3.2 million through the same scam.

In all cases, the monies were never recovered.