Police in Hanoi’s Tay Ho District Police said Monday they had arrested Armand Willy Asse, 52, and Nanga Onguene Xavier, 35, for “fraudulent appropriation of property.”
Armand Willy Asse (R) and Nanga Onguene Xavier at the time of arrest. Photo by police |
The two men posed as investors and brought a large number of dollar bills from France to ostensibly seek business partners.
They zeroed in on a 41-year-old man from Ninh Binh Province near Hanoi, and, to gain his trust, held meetings with him in five-star hotels.
Knowing the victim was eager to get investments, they visited his farm in Ninh Binh to “inspect” the place and discuss business plans.
On Nov. 30 they invited the victim to a hotel to receive dollars and produced stacks of greenback before telling him the notes had been blackened to avoid detection by airport customs.
To “clean” the blackened bills, they needed VND500,000 banknotes, which contained a special chemical called “red mercury,” they told him.
The process supposedly required one VND500,000 note for each dollar bill.
The scammers demonstrated the cleaning method by sprinkling a “special” powder (which resembled baking flour) on both the Vietnamese and blackened dollar notes and soaking them in a liquid mixture, which they claimed would create a chemical reaction.
Within a few minutes, the dollar bills became clean, which helped the duo pull the wool over the victim’s eyes.
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The blackened dollar bills seized by the police. Photo by police |
They promised the victim a 15% share of the cleaned dollars if he lent them Vietnamese banknotes for cleaning.
The victim gave them VND550 million.
Investigators found that the duo distracted the victim and fled with VND548 million.
A search of their residence later turned up US$6,400 and VND43 million in cash.
They admitted that the dollar bills they had brought to Vietnam had been coated with chemicals that easily wash off with soap.
The police said people still fall victim to this scam though it is old due to greed, though, admittedly, in this case the criminals had been sophisticated.
The so-called “dollar cleaning machine” was nothing more than a modified shoe-polishing machine and the scammers had a hair dryer inside it to create a noise to distract the victim, they said.
After taking the real money they pretended to leave to buy some food and never returned.
Two hours later the victim opened the box to find the money gone and the hair dryer still running inside.
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