East London - Fake bank notes - used in a scam whereby paper “magically” turns into money - were found on an East London beach, police said on Thursday.
A young child found a heap of photocopied money bundled into piles of R100 notes at Leaches Bay on Wednesday, said police spokesman Captain Stephen Marais.
“There were blank papers in between the fake notes.”
Police were called to the scene.
Marais said it was likely that the money had been used in a scam known as the “Black Dollar Scam”.
He said in this scam, criminals would approach people, particularly the elderly, and promise them that if they handed over their money, they could increase or even double the amount.
“They would trick the people by showing them a box in which they would place blank paper in the size of notes.”
The scammer would then add what they called a “special chemical” to the paper. They would close the box and wait about half an hour for the chemical to “work”.
The con artist would then pull out some real notes and put them on top before showing the box to the victim of the scam - who now would believe the paper had turned into money.
“Once the victim paid over some money to the agents to buy more 'chemical' the agents would disappear.”
Marais said police had confiscated the fake money found at the beach. He said people must not fall for these kind of scams.
“There is no get rich quick scheme.” - Sapa