Scammer Uses White Money Magic Trick To Get $8,000

(ORILLIA, ON) – The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) would like to make the public aware of a fraudulent scam which has surfaced in the Orillia area in the past week. This scam, which is widespread and well documented on the internet, involves taking legitimate Canadian currency and placing it between this white or negative money in order to transfer the currency colouring onto the paper to make it positive.

There are different variations of how this fraud is perpetuated, but the underlying pretence which seems to resurface continually is a way to make some quick money after the fraudster gains the confidence of unsuspecting victim. The fraudster gains the confidence by turning out the lights and then by shining an ultraviolet light source on the white money, it reveals that the paper is embossed and appears to be a legitimate Canadian bank note without colour.

By asking the intended victim for a $50 bill, which is often willingly supplied, it is placed in a bag with an unknown liquid solution and black powder and then pressure is applied to the bag (by having the person stand on it or placing a heavy object on it for a period of time). Afterwards, the two pieces of ‘blackened paper’ are removed from the bag; the fraudster then puts on a pair of rubber gloves to ‘wash’ the bills and shows the money to the unsuspecting victim noting that the 3 bills have different serial numbers.

This elaborate scheme was used recently in the City of Orillia and the unsuspecting victim was defrauded of more than $8,000. The Orillia OPP Crime Unit investigated a similar type incident in 2011 and is currently investigating this incident.

The OPP are asking the public to be aware of this fraudulent scam that appears to have once again made its way into our area. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, then it likely is.

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