Black money scam hits Bahrain

Manama: A notorious gang specialised in washing black money is targeting Bahrain, GCC residents, NOB has learnt.

They have created a Facebook profile named Mohamed Ali, presumably using a fake profile picture and cover photo.

Several images and videos explaining the process of “cleaning black currency notes” have been posted in the account.

The fraudsters claim that the currencies cleaned by them can be used anywhere, even in banks.

The gang has recently been found targeting people in Bahrain, among other GCC countries by posting their advertisement in Bahrain-based Facebook groups.

They have been endorsing their illegal trade in the open with customers seen to be negotiating with them publicly on social media.

The nationality of the user(s) of this account is unknown, however most of their “customers” seen negotiating with them, were mostly from Asian and African countries.

Some users were randomly tagged into their posts, though seemingly not involved in the trade.

The gang created the Facebook account on February 29 and already has 1,274 friends.

They have even provided contact details in Dubai along with a phone number in the country as well as promises excellent customer service.

According to Wikipedia, black money scam, sometimes also known as the "black dollar scam" or "wash wash scam", is a scam where con artists attempt to fraudulently obtain money from a victim by persuading him or her that piles of banknote-sized paper in a trunk or a safe are actually currency notes that have been dyed to avoid detection by authorities. The victim is persuaded to pay fees and purchase chemicals to remove the dye, with the promise of a share in the proceeds.

 The pictures and videos seen in the account show how “black dollars”, with seals of the Bank of America and Bank of Washington, are being cleaned using certain chemicals.

 The black-coated notes are cleaned with a solution called ‘SSD’ and a white-coloured powder known as ‘activation powder’.

 Another video shows the notes being cleaned in a printer-like machine.

 The gang also sells the chemicals required for this process and has also listed the names of the solutions and powders including Vectrol paste, Tebi-manetic solution, mercury solution, intersteroids and shampoo.

 They clarify through a post that the ‘SSD’ solution is a chemical used in the US government’s Department of Currency laboratory.

 The gang claims to have experienced technicians for doing the job and offers to send them to customers’ countries to “provide their services.”

 Looking at the frequency of their posts and the response that follows, it appears that the authorities have not yet noticed them.