Members of the Albacete Civil Guard arrested a resident of the Tolede commune of Casarrubios del Monte, 53 years old and of Cameroonian nationalityas the alleged perpetrator of a fraud offense committed using the so-called “negative scam” or “tinted banknote” method.
According to a statement from the Army Institute, the detainee already had a criminal record for an incident similar to the one under investigation, committed last August in the town of Lorca, Murcia.
The Civil Guard of Hellín received a complaint from a resident of the same townin which he declared that he had been the victim of a scam worth 16,400 euros, according to the “negative scam” or “tinted banknotes” procedure.
Following this complaint, the Civil Guard opened an investigation through which it was learned that the author of this scam intended to go to Hellín to try to deceive other people with the same method, c This is why a device was set up in the outskirts of Hellín, because it was in these areas that he chose to meet the victims and carry out the deception.
In one of these areas, one of the Benemérita patrols that participated in the service located a vehicle occupied by the suspected crook.
Inside the vehicle driven by the perpetrator of the scams, The Civil Guard seized numerous bottles containing chemicals and dyes, several tinted 50 euro notesblack and white papers of the same format used to carry out the deception, as well as 300 euros in cash, legal tender.
Thanks to this arrest, the Civil Guard was able to discover that the detainee had defrauded a second person last August, this time a businessman from the Murcia region from whom he had defrauded more than 230,000 euros.
The inmate began by becoming interested in advertisements on digital media for the sale of rural land, real estate or large tonnage vehicles, by contacting the advertisers, either himself or through third parties, in offering them to pay for properties or vehicles with invoices that are legal tender, but tinged black to be able to take them out of their country without being detected at customs controls.
In this first interview, he made them believe that, to restore them to their original appearance, the banknotes had to be treated with chemicals that he supplied them himself, by showing them videos and carrying out tests. in situ”, to de-ink them, thus offering them the possibility of participating in laundering by investing your money and thus receiving double the amount invested, once the notes have been cleaned and returned to their legal tender.
The perpetrator placed a tinted note next to another real note and, after spraying chemicals on it, deceptively obtained two legal tender notes.
To make it more realistic, the scammer invited victims to take the notes to banks to verify their veracity, thus gaining their trust.
Once the victims agreed to invest their money, the scammers delivered sealed envelopes apparently containing tinted notes that could not be exposed to light or air, to prevent decomposition, and which were to remain closed for a few days.
Once these days had passed, the victims opened the sealed envelopes and found nothing inside but simple bundles of papers.
Members of the Civil Guard stations Hellín and Liétor participated in the operational device which ended with the arrest of the perpetrator of the scams and the intervention of the equipment used to carry out the deceptions.
The procedure, carried out by members of the Civil Guard of Hellín, in the company of the detainee, was made available to the Court of Instruction number 3 of the city of Hellinaguard.
