Hoping to make a quick buck, a 29-year-old businessman from Selibe-Phikwe was conned out of P10 000 by a fraudster in the hustle of making counterfeit banknotes.
The victim, whose name is known to this publication, is currently on the hunt for a man named Motshegetsi Michael Motlalekgosi from Mmadinare village, a supposed mastermind of printing fake bank notes.
He apparently learned about Motlalekgosi’s dubious business from his best friend, who had been trying to convince him to give it a try since last year.
“I was hesitant at first because I had heard stories of people being scammed through such before.” However, in February this year, he finally caved in and decided to give it a try.
“To prove himself, he demonstrated with a P200 note, duplicating it into P600 right before my eyes.” He says that the counterfeit bank notes were similar in colour and appearance to genuine bank notes.
In an alleged call recorded between the two, Motlalekgosi described the process which was used to make these notes.
A paper referred to as negatives was compressed against the P200 bank note and a purple solution was smeared and rubbed over them.
The copy was washed with another chemical and thereafter, a mixture of boiling water and a pill termed cleaning solution was used to clean it.
Motlalekgosi explained to him that importing the pill was illegal.
“After cleaning, the bills are dried with a hot iron or dryer and after that they can be deposited,” he added.
“Instead of depositing the money, I used it to pay for fuel at a nearby filling station,” he said.
Astounded by the daylight magic, he decided to invest P10 000 from his business, which was supposed to generate P20 000 more, equaling his money to P30 000.
“The arrangement was that he would keep P10 000 while I walked away with P20 000. “
Once more, Motlalekgosi carried out the process right before him at his best friend’s house in Metsimotlhabe.
Just as he was about to finish, he apparently ran out of cleaning solution, which he dashed out to go and buy.
“He returned a while later and gave me the money wrapped up in brown sellotape, telling me that he needed to run out to get another chemical.” That was the last time he saw him.
To his dismay, he unwrapped the brown sellotape only to find stacks of black papers cut out in the form of the P200 notes.
“My friend and I reached out to him to demand the money but, after some time, I came to accept the sad reality that I had been swindled.”
He, however, suspects that his best friend may have been in on the scam.
“After the incident, my friend told me that this guy is said to have stolen thousands of Pulas from people in Selibe-Phikwe and Francistown last December. My question is, how come he never told me this in the beginning?” he asked out of frustration.
Unfortunately, he has not been able to engage the police as making counterfeit bank notes is illegal.
When reaching Motlalekgosi to hear his side of the story, his phone rang unanswered.