BLACK MONEY SCAM TURNS DEADLY

THE "BLACK MONEY" SCAM TURNS DEADLY

Two Nigerian conmen, attempting to carry out a "black money" scam in New York, have been shot dead, apparently by their intended victim.

Both men in their 30s, were found dead in the home of the intended victim, surrounded by thousands of pieces of black paper.

The scam, which is often a follow-up to a 419 fraud --- West African fraudsters take the view that if the victim has fallen for one, he'll fall for a second --- starts with a huge pile of $100 bills covered in a special black ink. It's money supposedly being returned to the victim for the previous con. The fraudsters even show the victim that all he has to do is take the ink off the disguised bills, and they're perfectly good. The problem is that to get the ink off, the victim has to buy a special cleaning liquid, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars. With millions of dollars in black cash piled up in front of him, the victim is asked to pick any piece of paper, at which time the fraudster uses what little chemical he has to remove the ink and produce a brand new $100 bill. The victim pays for the dozens of bottles of chemical that he'll need to wash the money, and that's the last he sees of the fraudster. And even if the victim could get the ink off the banknotes, they turn out to be nothing more than pieces of blank paper cut to $100 size.

In the past, some victims have gone to Nigeria --- against the warnings of the State Department and US law enforcement --- to confront the conmen and demand their money back. Several of those trips have turned deadly for the victims. The killings of fraudsters in the United States is much rarer.