3 Alleged African Con Men Arrested In Bangkok

[george]

3 alleged African con men arrested

BANGKOK: -- Police have arrested three African men for allegedly planning a scam which they claimed would generate huge profits from gold mining operations in Russia's Siberia.

Liberians John William and Elvis Silye Chiketon and Cameroonian Egen Sagoh were arrested last Thursday in a sting in which they sold smuggled gold pellets worth US$25,000 to an undercover agent.

After making the arrest at a luxury hotel in Bangkok, police later found in their possession five kilo of fake gold pellets, documents containing gold mining operations, along with a number of printing equipment intended to dupe victims that it could produce fake US banknotes.

Police said the racket's potential victims were foreigners or expatriates, and police were compiling evidence to further prosecute them on the plot relating to the fake US banknotes a practice known as the black money scam.

-- The Nation 2010-01-11

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[londonthai]

from the title it's more "alleged african" (a bit of racist) rather than "alleged conmen"

[gotlost]

from the title it's more "alleged african" (a bit of racist) rather than "alleged conmen"

Whats racist? If your green, purple, blue and are from Europe you are European. If you are green, purple,blue and are from Africa then you are an African. It looks like you may be a bit thin skinned.

[Reasonableman]

Always wondered how all those dark-skinned 7-foot gentlemen (alleged Africans) could afford to sit around Pratunam all day and do apparently nothing for months on end.

[geriatrickid]

practice known as the black money scam.

lol

i'm happy to see 3 more quality afrcian tourists off the streets. i wonder why these africans get the visa on the first place. is the thai govt too much afraid that they would shout racism if denied visa, or they just want the money they bring in, no matter how dirty it is?

How do you propose the authorities differentiate the African fraudsters from general African visitors? Is there a test imposed upon those of a fairer complexion that could be used, or are you discreetly suggesting much like a bull that walks delicately in a china shop that people of colour just be excluded?

[onnut]

why is it called the Black Money Scam? is it because it was Africans doing the crime?

[sunsamourai]

practice known as the black money scam.

lol

i'm happy to see 3 more quality afrcian tourists off the streets. i wonder why these africans get the visa on the first place. is the thai govt too much afraid that they would shout racism if denied visa, or they just want the money they bring in, no matter how dirty it is?

How do you propose the authorities differentiate the African fraudsters from general African visitors? Is there a test imposed upon those of a fairer complexion that could be used, or are you discreetly suggesting much like a bull that walks delicately in a china shop that people of colour just be excluded?

They could still do like the US immigration, and give out a form to fill :

- do you have aids ?

- are you a criminal ?

- do you intend on committing a terrorist act ?

etc, etc . . .

[Hardback]

why is it called the Black Money Scam? is it because it was Africans doing the crime?

No..it's a scam where they have lots of bills that are covered in some kind of black ink that needs to be removed using a (supposedly)very expensive chemical liquid. They demo it for you and accidentally break the bottle of liquid...hopefully for the conmen the mark will shell out the amount needed to secure a second bottle and unblacken the pile of notes.

The con will then leave (flush with cash) leaving the black money as collateral..they never come back and the black money turns out to be useless black paper.

Edited January 11, 2010 by Hardback

[geriatrickid]

Oh dear, that might not be such a good idea because the history of the English, French, Germans, Portuguese and some other European nationals in Africa isn't that good. You know, theft of land, rape, genocides, enslavement and stuff like that. If we were to follow your suggestion thailand might have to exclude many Europeans due to their wealth coming from past illegal and amoral acts. I think the Africans have only learnt from their previous European colonial masters.

[Africanteacher]

Such rubbish! Africa was such a lovely place before the West interferred with her.

On the other hand, it's a commendable thing that the authorities have arrested the alleged conmen. I sincerely hope that justice is upheld.

[Scott]

One post deleted. Let's keep the racist remarks to a minimum. This thread is about a con and the people perpetuating it, who happen to be African.

[Lite Beer]

Two nonsensical posts deleted.

[onnut]

You may as well delete mine as well, I was being sarcastic!

[Africanteacher]

.......... the scum of the earth originate in Africa, and they maybe right. All I know is not enough of them are caught and incarcerated.

Such rubbish! Africa was such a lovely place before the West interferred with her.

On the other hand, it's a commendable thing that the authorities have arrested the alleged conmen. I sincerely hope that justice is upheld.

Oh dear, and you teach ??

Oh yes, of course! African Art

[phil2]

.......... the scum of the earth originate in Africa, and they maybe right. All I know is not enough of them are caught and incarcerated.

Such rubbish! Africa was such a lovely place before the West interferred with her.

On the other hand, it's a commendable thing that the authorities have arrested the alleged conmen. I sincerely hope that justice is upheld.

Oh dear, and you teach ??

And the western influence destroyed Africa. They also looted their treasures ( stealing, scam ) in the name of colonisation.

Example: The Benin Ivory Mask "http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aoa/i/ivory_mask.aspx"

A member of the colonia goverment in Nigeria wrote a book recently. I suggest you look for that book and read it. Then you can decide for yourself who to point accusing fingers at.

[phil2]

Always wondered how all those dark-skinned 7-foot gentlemen (alleged Africans) could afford to sit around Pratunam all day and do apparently nothing for months on end.

What about the light skinned people who always spend their time in Nana?

[phil2]

I think the Africans have only learnt from their previous European colonial masters.

Excellent.

[Africanteacher]

I think the Africans have only learnt from their previous European colonial masters.

I partly agree. It's not like Africa was a holier-than-thou place before the colonial era. There were still many vices being occurring in societies.

I still insist that I'm glad that it is a good thing that the authorities have apprehended the alleged criminals, and I hope that they face justice.

[webfact]

I appreciate if we can get back to the topic...

Thanks

[MAJIC]

Such rubbish! Africa was such a lovely place before the West interferred with her.

On the other hand, it's a commendable thing that the authorities have arrested the alleged conmen. I sincerely hope that justice is upheld.

And so was Zimbabwe before Magabe bankrupted a thriving country (sorry if this is off topic)

[Donnyboy]

wonder if they managed to dupe anyone before capture

[slapout]

One of TV members told me that he was approached on the black money/chemical scam about 2 weeks ago. If photos of the accused are out there he may recognize one of them. Maybe he can give a first hand account of their methods, etc.

[Curt1591]

A member of the colonia goverment in Nigeria wrote a book recently. I suggest you look for that book and read it. Then you can decide for yourself who to point accusing fingers at.

I Googled "member of the colonia goverment in Nigeria written a book" and came up blank.

Interesting that these guys are "alleged" con men. In Thailand, most suspects have movies taken of a re-enactment.

[screamingeagle]

The lads from Lagos are at it again. We all know the 419 scam. "I have 20,000,000 in the bank. Send me a deposit and I'll transfer it into your account and we split it"!!!!!

[RickBradford]

why is it called the Black Money Scam? is it because it was Africans doing the crime?

This is more often known as "wash-wash" in Nigerian parlance and is as described -- the mark pays money for a chemical which will supposedly clean the banknotes so they can be used as legal tender.

It's one of the older Nigerian scams (this is statistics, not racism -- the vast majority of these scams emanate from that country) -- newer ones include classic 419 advance fee (the dictator or dead relative with millions of $), orphanage scams (help the dying children), disaster scams (send money to help tsunami/earthquake victims), EBay scams (fake cheque), romance scams, hitman scams (send me $10K by Tuesday or you're dead), rental scams (fake cheques), and even puppy scams (adopt this delightful animal)

Two things to be noted:

1) it is not always victims' greed which undoes them -- Nigerians did set up fake web sites to try to divert aid money from the Boxing Day tsunami into their own pockets, which is about as low as it gets (but not quite -- they are now targeting cerebral palsy sufferers in the US)

2) it is not only idiots who fall for these things -- this is a well-organised business which turns over close to a billion dollars a year -- an estimated 250,000 people scam full-time in the city of Lagos alone.

And some of their organizations set up gang members offshore, to make their scams sound less 'Nigerian', which is why Bangkok, India, Indonesia and Malaysia are well-stocked with these people.

If you're interested in the ways of conmen, I suggest you look at this well-known anti-fraud site.

[cyberia]

I lived in Cape Town, South Africa for about 6 month.

Most local blacks were quite unhappy with the Africans from other parts of Africa being in their country.

When asked they would usually say "Oh, they bring much crime with them".

Not that the locals are saints by any means but they were born there and it's their land after all.

My ex GF - a South African born colored woman with a German passport - kept telling me that she didn't feel safe(in her homeland!!!), frankly I didn't either.

Eventually we decided to leave that beautiful city and go back to Europe.

[grantbkk]

To the Royal Thai Police who are looking for clues and identities of additional suspects the gold pellet scam: Look around Sukhumvit Soi 3/1 beginning after the noon hour. Few, if any, non-Thais have proper papers or visas and when you search their rooms please seize the illicit narcotics, counterfeiting equipment and tools used in several scams perpetrated in and around Bangkok. You guys used to raid the place about every six weeks but the practice was eliminated presumably due to the global economic crisis. looking at the area now you would think crime is actually being encouraged in an "enforcement free zone".

If you still have the energy and room in the prisoner trucks head over to Sukhumvit Soi 13 after about 1:00 AM. Try to not send marked police vehicles into the Soi first, use your undercover people. You can watch the drug dealing by dark skinned people not from this country on much of the length pf the Soi.

Hit them fast and hard. I see promotions in your future.

[londonthai]

grant, if you, as a passer by, know this things, than for sure the police, with hundreds low payed employees looking for an extra income or promotion, tooled with payed and voluntary informers, knows well what's happening in those areas.

possibly htey are part of the crime and don't be surprised, if they themselves organised part of it - some foreigners are doing the dirty job for them

[mirthseeker]

Oh Dear,

Maybe they forgot to contact the local BIB, to ensure the con was legal, and to pay the appropriate fee!

And isn't there a requirement that any business be more than 50% Thai owned?

[grantbkk]

grant, if you, as a passer by, know this things, than for sure the police, with hundreds low payed employees looking for an extra income or promotion, tooled with payed and voluntary informers, knows well what's happening in those areas.

possibly htey are part of the crime and don't be surprised, if they themselves organised part of it - some foreigners are doing the dirty job for them

Yeah, I know. It was my attempt at satirical humor. The crime is so obvious and conducted out in the open, leaving no doubt that the authorities are involved.