Police bust fake counterfeiting scam

A pair of men in Alpharetta thought they had a sucker on the hook when they tried to convince him they had a foolproof method of counterfeiting.

The sucker, an undercover police detective, was not fooled.

The two men, James Martin and Nelson Achonduh, are facing charges of felony solicitation.

According to Alpharetta police, the detective met with Martin and Achonduh to observe what they said was their counterfeiting technique. They said they wanted to sell funny money for real money, police said.

The suspects took a real $100 bill and dipped it in chemicals, police said. They placed the bill against an identically sized, blank piece of paper, telling the purchaser that the image would transfer to the blank paper, police said.

But it was a scam.

One suspect would distract the buyer as the other would substitute the blank paper with another $100 bill. Voila, they would say, a perfect imprint.

The buyer was then to bring $100,000 in real money for $300,000 in fake money. If the buyer brought real money, the suspects would simply rob him, police said.

About a week ago, the counterfeit counterfeiters demonstrated their technique at a Citgo gas station in Alpharetta. They agreed to meet the undercover detective at the gas station on Monday to exchange phoney currency for cold cash.

Except real police with real guns arrested them.

A search of the suspects’ vehicle turned up a loaded handgun.

Police spokesman George Gordon said authorities are investigating whether the trick had been played elsewhere. The investigation was assisted by the U.S. Treasury Department.