Now, we all know better than to trust promises of easy money, right? Well, apparently not everyone does, as a recent piece of news involving an unsuccessful scam attempt here in Japan clearly demonstrates. The whole affair actually has Japanese internet users shaking their heads in disbelief, and one thing is clear — there’s not going to be much public sympathy for the intended victim in this particular case. Once you hear the story, you’ll probably understand why.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department recently arrested three foreign nationals, one of whom has been identified as 38-year-old Guatemalan Aldon Hernandez Melvin Roderico, for stealing 1,000,000 yen (approx $10,000) in cash from a 23-year-old woman living in Tokyo. What makes this case so unbelievable is the way the group managed to obtain the money from the woman. They told her that they had the means to duplicate money by first pouring a special chemical onto pieces of blank paper cut into the size of 10,000yen bills with an actual bill sandwiched in between, which initially turns the blank sheets of paper black in color, and then when the paper is treated with another “special liquid reducing agent”, all the sheets would become 10,000 yen bills.

Yes, it was an unmistakable case of the old “black money” scam, and the woman fell for it, handing them the money when the group approached her with an offer to pay her a 20 percent return if she could provide the cash they needed for their little money-making scheme. They apparently showed the woman a fake demonstration of how the paper would be chemically processed and eventually switched the 1,000,000 yen cash with worthless pieces of black paper.

So now you can see why people aren’t exactly full of sympathy for this woman. Aside from being incredibly stupid gullible, she was going to knowingly participate in counterfeit money production. As expected, the Japanese internet has quickly responded with both harsh and amused comments as follows:

“How stupid is someone who falls for this?”

“In this case, it’s the woman who got scammed who should be hospitalized.”

“This is such an old trick — almost like something from the 19th century!”

“So the woman believes in alchemy.”

“If you’re stupid enough to fall for this, you should have your entire savings confiscated.”

“If this actually worked, you would be committing a crime, plain and simple, since it’s counterfeit money.”

“Can they make stupidity a crime? If they could and they arrested people for it, maybe it would make Japan a better country to live in.”

“Okay, here’s the million-dollar question — if they can duplicate bills, then why would they need someone to provide cash?“

Really, I would hate to imagine how embarrassing it would be to be involved in a case like this. I guess you can never be too careful, though, since most con victims are probably ordinary people who would never have thought they would fall for a silly scam but ended up being duped anyway. (And by the way, it’s been said by victimologists that people who are confident that they won’t be tricked are in fact the ones most at risk of falling prey to swindlers.) Again, everyone, please remember — there is no such thing as easy money!

Source: MSN Sankei News via Itai News