2 Cameroon nationals in ‘black dollar’ scam arrested

If an offer is too good to be true, most probably it’s a scam.

A Quezon City businessman almost fell victim to a “black dollar” scam offering to triple his money.

But operatives of the National Capital Region Police Office-Regional Special Operations Unit (NCRPO-RSOU) arrested the perpetrators—two Cameroon nationals and a Filipino woman in Makati City on Thursday night.

The suspects—Samuel Djumba, 47; Patian Libukan, 36, both from Cameroon but temporarily staying at a condominium in Mandaluyong; and Sarah Miranda, 47, of Caloocan—were caught in an entrapment operation inside Room 2615 of City Garden Grand Hotel, at the corner of Makati  and Kalayaan Avenues in Makati City at 8:55 p.m.

The 53-year-old businessman filed a complaint against the suspects after he smelled fraud when the suspects promised to triple his money if he could produce $50,000.

Like other black dollar schemes, the suspects told him they had piles of dollar bills stored in a safe but were dyed with black ink to avoid detection by authorities.

They then asked him to pay for fees to clear it from customs and to buy chemicals that could wash the dye off, and promised to get a 50-percent share from the total proceeds.