God Metal Scam

Swindlers conned a Vietnamese businessman into buying $25,000 worth of "God Metal." Apparently, the existence of God Metal is an old folk legend in Vietnam. According to Thanh Nien News:
‘God metal’, also known as ‘black copper’, is almost a myth in Vietnam. Those who claim to have seen it say it is extremely heavy but floats in an iron bucket of water. In its vicinity glass shatters, matches and lighters do not ignite, iron nails are repelled, and gold turns white.
The mark for the scam thought he could resell the God Metal for millions of dollars. But first he wanted to make sure that it could do all that the legend said:
The gang came with a notebook-sized bar of black copper weighing 2.1 kg. They performed ‘tests’ in front of him and the metal seemed to possess all its mythical properties: a mirror and a clinical thermometer did shatter into pieces and a gas lighter failed to ignite.
They even showed him a burnt mobile phone, claiming to have “forgotten to turn it off before placing it near the metal”.

He paid the gang an advance of $25,000. But the next day the swindlers were nowhere to be found. Nor was his cash. (Thanks, Joe.)

Business/Finance Con Artists

Posted on Sat Jun 09, 2007



Comments

It's nice to see the classic alchmey con is still around, after the rash of boring, pointless 'look what stupid stuff I can get on Youtube' hoaxes that have been prevalent lately. Just warms the cockiles of my heart, it does.
Posted by Nona  on  Mon Jun 11, 2007  at  06:28 AM
Beats Nigerian bulldogs, that's for sure.
Posted by Christopher Cole  on  Mon Jun 11, 2007  at  05:06 PM
"God-Metal"... sounds like a K-tel compilation of Hair Guitar favorites... call before midnight tonight, and we'll throw in "Billy-Wood", the acoustic-heavy sounds of 70's Southern Bands Killed in Plane Crashes. Free Paris with every order, shipping and handling extra
Posted by Hairy Houdini  on  Wed Jun 13, 2007  at  12:15 PM
I'm just wondering how the scammers managed to fake the 'legendary' qualities of this god metal in the first place. Was it a distraction ruse?
Posted by Lee  on  Mon Jun 18, 2007  at  02:16 AM
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