The E-Sylum:  Volume 9, Number 9, February 26, 2006, Article 19

EIGHT JAPANESE CONNED IN MILLION DOLLAR BILL SWINDLE

P.T. Barnum was right - there's a sucker born every minute (and
the world will never run out of supply).  The Taipei Times reports
this week that

"Eight people in southern Japan forked over ¥150 million (US$1.27
million) to a man who promised huge returns involving fake US$1
million bills and then disappeared with their money, a news report
said yesterday.  The US Treasury does not make US$1 million bills."

"The unidentified investors first heard of the US$1 million note
from a 52-year-old construction material company president in early
2003, according to Asahi, citing several investors.

The president told them about a ``rare'' US$1 million bill that
was for sale in Chengdu, China, and invited them to pool money to
buy several such notes promising a return 10 times of their
investment, the report said.

The investors were told that the US government printed the bills
in 1928 to allow Americans in China to bring their assets back
home, Asahi said.

The president showed them a thousand of the US$1 million notes
featuring a portrait of George Washington at a Tokyo hotel,
according to Asahi.

The investors were told the notes could be exchanged for smaller
denominations in Hong Kong, but no exchange ever took place, it
reported."

"The largest US denomination ever produced was US$100,000
between 1934 and 1935, according to the Treasury."

To read the full article, see: Full Story

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

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