Ivorian Held For 'Bilking' Bangkok Woman Of Bt5.3M In 'Black Money' Scam

[webfact]

Ivorian held for 'bilking' woman of Bt5.3m in 'black money' scam

Monthien Inthaket

The Nation

A man from Ivory Coast was arrested for allegedly running a "black money" scam, duping a Bangkok businesswoman out of Bt5.3 million, Crime Suppression Division deputy chief Pol Colonel Prasopchok Prommoon told a news conference yesterday.

The 31yearold suspect, Olalekan Afelumo, was wanted for fraud and arrested at a hotel in Phuket's Muang district on December 4 Sunday, while his alleged accomplice from Liberia - identified as Jonathan Sayezee, 44 - escaped.

Minimart owner Sasithorn Phulsang, 45, filed a police complaint stating that from May 15 to June 23, Afelumo - also known as Mr Day - and his accomplice befriended her, telling her that they had a lot of euro banknotes that had been dyed and could be used as their investment capital for business in Thailand. However, they needed money to pay for chemicals to wash them first; a gallon (about 4 litres) of highquality new chemical was Bt3 million while a gallon of secondhand chemical Bt2.4 million.

Afelumo subsequently produced a dyed banknote.

-- The Nation 2011-12-06

[lazygourmet]

555!!!

Unbelievable that some gullible are still falling down with that 200 years old scam...

[RickBradford]

Amazing to think there are still people falling for the old wash-wash scam.

Most of the serious scammers moved on a long time ago into romance scamming, lottery scams, check scams, rental scams and so on.

http://scamwarners.com/

[FOODLOVER]

Seems she was greedy and wanted some of that "Free" money from a robbery.

[ratcatcher]

"...............they had a lot of euro banknotes that had been dyed and could be used as their investment capital for business in Thailand. However, they needed money to pay for chemicals to wash them first;........"

Now I understand what money laundering means.

[moe666]

Every body wants easy money. Why does the Nigerian scam still work on the internet. I have millions in the bank and will share with you but i need a few thousand to get it out. People still fall for this one. As old P.T. barnum said a sucker is born every minute.

[Tywais]

For those not familiar with it:

The black money scam, sometimes also known as the "wash wash scam", is a scam where con artists attempt to fraudulently obtain money from a victim by persuading him or her that piles of banknote-sized paper in a trunk or a safe is really money which has been dyed black (e.g. to avoid detection by customs). The victim is persuaded to pay for chemicals to wash the "money" with a promise that he will share in the proceeds.

The black money scam first appeared around 2000. It is a variation of what is known as advance fee fraud.

Black money scam

[noitom]

The Thai mini-mart owner was eager to front the money for the illegal payoff when she believed that she was in for a nice payday. When it went south, she brought in her friends, the police. They probably came looking for their larger than regular payoff and were then informed that the deal crashed. The minimart owner will pay a bigger vig now, if the police are able to recover. In street terminology, the minimart owner is known as a "rat."

[RedNIvar]

These Africans make a lot of women look like fools, not here but across Asia.

[Oberkommando]

Black Money?

[Derifo]

These Africans make a lot of women look like fools, not here but across Asia.

It's only a greedy person like my ex that'll fall for that that. Those were the people that wrecked my home, but I don't blame them, I blame her foe being so greedy and foolish.

[FrankieDimes]

You can't scam an honest man/woman. It is usually the greedy or crooked, who will be scammed. The minimart owner was probably planning to scam the Africans by getting them to invest in Thailand.

[chuang]

Greed Greed Greed..

[jimbeam1]

Well three words come to mind, Som-nam-na.

jb1

[osiboy]

i know in phuket there are hundreds of farang "stung" or "tucked up" concerning business every year , i was one of the lucky ones and lost only about $3000 US , ........ Its nice to see it happen to a greedy thai for a change ! , ....what goes around comes around , any thai buddhist should know this .

Edited December 6, 2011 by osiboy

[slapout]

The whole wold seems to be a minefield when it comes to scams, payoffs, dodgy business, inferior products/labor, etc.It may be telling on the perception of Thailand by dodgy individuals, feeling that they and their kind will fit in quite well with the everyday business as normal concept.

Like minded people seem to be attracted to the same general area and Thailand seems to offer vast opportunity to those who seem to exist by hook or crook. "Lead by example" has led to the downfall of groups before and it will happen again.

[HardenedSoul]

You can't scam an honest man/woman. It is usually the greedy or crooked, who will be scammed. The minimart owner was probably planning to scam the Africans by getting them to invest in Thailand.

Now that will almost certainly win the TV "Moronic Statement" of the month.

Edited December 7, 2011 by metisdead
30) Do not modify someone else's post in your quoted reply, either with font or color changes, added emoticons, or altered wording.

[Misterwhisper]

That woman should be held accountable for three reasons:

1) She was overly greedy, and only because of that fell for the scam; her own greed superseded her rationality.

2) She was a gullible fool (nothing new in so-called 'business women' and it ties in well with greed).

3) She willingly became an accessory to a potential crime; imagine the money was real, why would it have to be dyed black? Because it was 'hot' money, of course.

Tar and feather her and hang her out to dry.

[Payboy]

Minimart owner Sasithorn Phulsang

Afelumo - also known as Mr Day

his accomplice

RTP

The finger-pointing reenactment scene would be a mexican standoff.

[ratcatcher]

You can't scam an honest man/woman. It is usually the greedy or crooked, who will be scammed. The minimart owner was probably planning to scam the Africans by getting them to invest in Thailand.

Try telling that to the guy who Madoff with millions of dollars of honest investors life savings.

[blackthorn2005]

The Thai mini-mart owner was eager to front the money for the illegal payoff when she believed that she was in for a nice payday. When it went south, she brought in her friends, the police. They probably came looking for their larger than regular payoff and were then informed that the deal crashed. The minimart owner will pay a bigger vig now, if the police are able to recover. In street terminology, the minimart owner is known as a "rat."

Looks like the police have already had one pay off, how else did the accomplice escape? This happens far too frequently in Phuket.

[lee68]

Ha ha laughing my balls off,this scam has been going on for donkeys years, didn't think it happened any more,well somebody forgot to tell the Thais about it,lol.

[grmgunn]

Lock him up and throw away the key ... irrespective of where they come from.

[KeyserSoze01]

Yawn, som nom na.

[RogueLeader]

i know in phuket there are hundreds of farang "stung" or "tucked up" concerning business every year , i was one of the lucky ones and lost only about $3000 US , ........ Its nice to see it happen to a greedy thai for a change ! , ....what goes around comes around , any thai buddhist should know this .

How do you know that this particular Thai was involved in scamming foreigners?

[ToffeEFCpower]

Wow talk about inflation. A couple of them same type of dudes tried that scam on me 8 years ago, then they wanted US$15,000 to buy the chemical from the US embassy lol. 6 days later they were both dead.

[hehehoho]

You can't scam an honest man/woman. It is usually the greedy or crooked, who will be scammed. The minimart owner was probably planning to scam the Africans by getting them to invest in Thailand.

Now that will almost certainly win the TV "Moronic Statement" of the month.

I strongly advise you read Thai Visa's forum rules with regards to altering quoted comments.

Don't be a repeat offender, or holidays are likely to be handed out.

Thanks.

[Card]

Make Euros appear out of thin air using plain paper, dye and chemicals? Sounds like Merkozy could do with hiring a few West Africans to keep European banks afloat.

[Forethat]

As old P.T. barnum said a sucker is born every minute.

Well, actually he never said such thing, but I agree with every word - who ever said it. But it wasn't Barnum.

[RogueLeader]

You can't scam an honest man/woman. It is usually the greedy or crooked, who will be scammed. The minimart owner was probably planning to scam the Africans by getting them to invest in Thailand.

You can't scam an honest man/woman. It is usually the greedy or crooked, who will be scammed. The minimart owner was probably planning to scam the Africans by getting them to invest in Thailand.

Now that will almost certainly win the TV "Moronic Statement" of the month.

I strongly advise you read Thai Visa's forum rules with regards to altering quoted comments.

Don't be a repeat offender, or holidays are likely to be handed out.

Thanks.

How has that been altered? Are you actually claiming that formatting for emphasis is 'altering'?

Oh,. dear.