Philadelphia Police arrested five men yesterday who were allegedly running a “black money” scam on Philadelphia businesses, including one in Overbrook whose owner alerted the cops. Police report that one of the men arrested, 27-year-old Patrick Sanyeah,  lived on the 4600 block of Chester Avenue. All five men are Liberian nationals.
Basically the scam involves a fairly elaborate demonstration of “washing” U.S. bills from West Africa that have been blackened to get through U.S. Customs. The men tell businesses owners that they need a small investment from them to help in the washing operation and that they would get a portion of the money when it was complete. Sometimes called the “wash, wash,” the scam began appearing int he United States in 2000. It often starts with a random e-mail.
The Channel 6 video below explains yesterday’s arrest…