Many ambitious people who failed to make money during trips to the US have come up with an adventurous but fraudulent scheme: “selling” souvenir $1 million US banknotes.
These people buy the notes in the US for no more than $5, then sell them for hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece to those dreaming of wealth. Many buyers have quickly recognized that their greed has brought them into the grasp of unscrupulous con artists, who have sold them a souvenir issued by the so-called American Millionaires’ Society.
After successfully fobbing off some of these notes on unwary businessmen, the emboldened con artists actually came up with more of the worthless paper to satisfy the Egyptian market.
The Egyptian police have managed to uncover 10 such cases of fraud in a short period of time.
According to the London-based Arabic daily Al Sharq Al Awsat, the first victim of this kind of con game was an Egyptian businessman who went to Germany to conclude a commercial deal. While there, he bought two $1 million notes for $50,000 each, and was under the impression that he had cheated the seller.
But when he returned to Cairo, he discovered that the notes were not real.
The prosecutor general, who was notified of the incident, decided not to take action against the businessman and a relative of his, who attempted to help him exchange the notes for genuine $100 notes, citing their “good intentions” - Albawaba.com
