Not funny for the hapless vendor in question, but a jeweller sold €6 million worth of jewels for a case full of Monopoly notes
A fairly crude technique, but it came off in spectacular fashion in this case: a Greek jeweller came to Paris to sell a batch of jewels worth €6 million, only to fall victim to a manoeuvre of crookery that shouldn’t have worked under normal circumstances.
According to Le Parisien, the jeweller had been contacted by two mysterious clients claiming to be French nationals and who wished to purchase four rings and a necklace, which were presented as rare pieces. Hoping to realise a sweet deal, the Greek vendor jumped on a plane to Paris, where he had a meeting with these two mysterious clients on the 25th of September last in the rather posh and largely commercial 8th arrondissement.
The Greek presented his merchandise and the business was quickly concluded. The two men presented a briefcase to him, filled with €500 notes. Ever wary, the jeweller took a wad of notes and went to a local bureau de change to check their authenticity.
Fully reassured that his buyers were kosher, he came back to hand over the jewels and take away the briefcase of cash. Up to that point, everything was going very smoothly. It wasn’t until after the men had left, however, that the Greek jeweller noticed that something was wrong: the vast majority of the notes were stamped across with the name of the famous board game. He tried to regain contact with his “clients”, but without success.
Paris police are on the case but the Monopoly-moneyed clients have not yet been found.