Court refuses to order refund to black money scam victim who wanted to falsify banknotes

A man from Niger has been jailed for 30 months for tricking a Spanish woman out of €15,000 through what is known as a “black money” scam, with the court also refusing to uphold the woman's claim for damages, holding that she had effectively wanted to falsify banknotes.

In a judgment handed down today, magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech found Abdoul Moumine Abdoulaye Maiga guilty of fraud and misappropriation.

The classic “black money” scam is to trick credulous victims by dying one large denomination banknote black with iodine and placing it in a batch of plain banknote-sized papers, which are also dyed. The fraudsters then wash the black banknote in vitamin C solution and the iodine dissolves, revealing the banknote. The victim goes home to find the rest of the “banknotes” are, in fact, just plain papers.

Maiga practised a variation of this scam, by which he made it appear as if he could copy banknotes using the magical solution.

In July 2015, Miriam Rodriguez Quintero had filed a police report against the accused, saying he had promised her a €10,500 return on a loan of €15,000. He had taught her how to “copy” the banknotes and had but the “cash” he had given her turned out to be worthless. Attempts to contact the man were unsuccessful and so she decided to go to the police.

After doing some research on Facebook, she had found a picture of Maiga under the name Ricard Malere.

She informed inspector Maurice Curmi, who began investigating the case and found that Ricard Malere was in fact, Abdoul Mounie Abdoulaye Maiga, who was arrested.

Ruling that the charges had been amply proven, magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech found Maiga guilty of misappropriation and obtaining money through deception, condemning him to imprisonment for 30 months.

However, the court did not uphold the prosecution's request to order Maiga to repay the €15,000 he had obtained through fraud, saying that the victim herself had admitted that the money was intended for falsification.