2 Cameroonians nabbed for black dollar scam

The National Bureau of Investigation arrested two Cameroonian nationals on Wednesday for allegedly conducting a black dollar scam.

In a "black dollar scam," victims are persuaded to pay money to con artists, supposedly to purchase chemicals that would erase dye from currency that had been stained.

According to the NBI's statement on Thursday, the complainant engaged with a “Dr. Paul,” who showed them a "decoding process" for supposed dollars they want to use for an investment in the complainant's condominium project offer.

Dr. Paul reached out to the complainant on June 11, saying that he was in need of money. The complainant gave him P400,000 during a meet-up in Makati City on July 5, after which Dr. Paul conducted the "decoding process" on the supposed money, which he put in a piece of foil with powder and soaked in hot water.

"'Dr. Paul' instructed the complainant not to open the foil to allow it to ferment in the chemicals for 24 hours. Becoming suspicious, the complainant opened the package when he arrived home and found black papers inside the foil," the statement read.

When the complainant called Dr. Paul, the latter arranged for another meeting on July 9 and asked for P50,000 for more chemicals.

Further suspicions led the complainant to conduct his own research and discovered the true identity of Dr. Paul to be Khan Fonkam, who had been arrested by the NBI on May 31.

Fonkam and his brother, Awa Fonkam, were quickly arrested in an entrapment operation at BGC, Taguig City on Tuesday.

The suspects face charges for estafa, and iIlegal possession and use of false treasury or bank notes and other instruments, in relation to the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012. — Jiselle Anne C. Casucian/BM, GMA Integrated News