The Civil Guard of Lanzarote has arrested a 45-year-old person for a crime of fraud using the well-known 'wash wash' or 'tinted bills' method, in the municipality of Teguise.
The operation began when Civil Guard agents observed an argument between two people in the middle of the street in the town of Costa Teguise. As the agents approached, they observed several packages wrapped in black plastic, and according to the victim's statement on the spot, the reason for the argument was that the alleged perpetrator tried to leave the scene with the legitimate money that had been handed over to be subsequently tinted.
The modus operandi of this scam is meticulously planned. The process, known as the 'black money' scam, consists of the scammers approaching their victims with a convincing story: they claim to have taken large amounts of money out of their country of origin dyed black to avoid customs controls. To reinforce their story, they show bundles of paper that appear to be real bills tinted, strategically placing authentic bills at the beginning of the bundle. Then, they perform a demonstration with chemical products that supposedly 'clean' the bills, thus gaining the victim's trust.
Once convinced, the victim is persuaded to hand over a considerable sum of cash, under the promise of receiving more 'clean' bills. However, after completing the exchange, the victims discover that they have been deceived and that the packages received contain only black cards of no value whatsoever.
This type of scam is based on both the greed and the naivety of the victims, who are attracted by the promise of quick and easy profits. The Civil Guard has intensified its efforts to combat this crime and prevent more people from falling for this type of deception.
