Two African men have been arrested for allegedly attempting to convince a mobile phone shop owner that counterfeit money could be turned into legitimate currency with the help of a special liquid solution, authorities said Wednesday.
Police say Henry Mobou, 34, and Honore Kamga, 40, approached a mobile phone shop owner in March to try to convince him that stained US money, known as “black money,” could be cleaned and turned into usable currency. The shop owner was unaware the money was counterfeit, and was told by the two suspects that they obtained the cash and the cleaning solution from US embassies, said Pol Phiethey, chief of the foreigner office for municipal police.
After the suspects, both of whom are from Cameroon, talked to the mobile phone shop owner twice in March to build a relationship with him, they recently returned in June to close the deal, Pol Phiethey said.
The shop owner gave the two suspects $3,000 in order to get about twice that in black money and the supposed solution that cleans it, Pol Phiethey said.
“They told the shop owner that he could give $100 and get $200 back,” Pol Phiethey said.
When the shop owner became suspicious, he followed the two suspects home and then notified police of their whereabouts. The two were arrested Tuesday evening. The suspects recently came back to Cambodia from a trip to Vietnam, and that the two planned to return to Vietnam to spend the $3,000 they got from the mobile phone shop owner, Pol Phiethey said.
Mobou and Kamga are being detained at the foreigner office for municipal police. They have not yet been charged with a crime, police said. Authorities suspect others are involved in the scam and officials are continuing the investigation. In April last year, five Africans were arrested in a similar scam. They were charged with passing counterfeit dollars in restaurants.
Pol Phiethey said this scam targets people who would have a lot of cash on hand and are used to dealing with foreigners.
