Two suspects arrested in attempt to defraud Arab out of JD1 million

AMMAN — Criminal Investigation Department (CID) agents in Jerash and Ramtha have foiled an attempt to defraud an Arab out of JD1 million, the Public Security Department (PSD) said Wednesday.

The Ramtha CID department received information that two suspects had convinced an Arab through social media that they could sell him dollars at a price lower than their market value, and he agreed to buy $1 million, sending a person in his stead to Jordan to check the cash before paying for it, according to a PSD statement carried by the Jordan News Agency, Petra.

Investigators tracked down the suspects, issuing an all-points bulletin on the vehicle they used to all police patrols in the Kingdom.

Agents working at the Jerash Police Station stopped the vehicle and arrested the suspects along with the person sent to check the money, and confiscated $50,000 in real currency that they were planning to use to trick the victim, according to the PSD.

The PSD urged the public to avoid falling prey to such fraudsters whether on the Internet or through personal acquaintances who promise easy profit, calling for reporting such people immediately. 

Fraudsters often claim to have “smuggled dollars” or “black dollars” and offer to sell them at relatively cheap prices, the PSD said, according to Petra.

Black dollar scams involve showing the victim currency that is black and completely useless and then placing it in a special substance that transforms it into clean US currency, convincing the victim that the money is genuine.

Suspects tend to use “visual tricks” such as substituting a black dollar with a real dollar covered in black paint, to convince their victims that the substance actually works.

Criminals then talk victims into paying them money to buy more of the special chemical substance to get them millions of dollars.