LAWRENCE — A Nigerian "black money" scam that has cost victims around the globe millions has turned up in Lawrence and police are looking for possible victims.

The scam works like this: A con artist offers the victim a few $100 bills that have been dyed black, claiming they were disguised to be smuggled out of Nigeria without catching the eye of customs officials. He tells the victim he has millions of dollars to share if the victim can pony up thousands for the special chemical used to clean the bills.

The con man even lets the victim hold onto the "money" as collateral until the chemical comes in.

But what the victim ends up with is a lot of black construction paper, a solution of water and ground-up vitamins, and the knowledge they have just been duped out of thousands of dollars.

That's what almost happened to Juan Garcia of Lawrence last Saturday when a man approached him with a lucrative offer to buy his car, and later showed up at a designated meeting spot with what turned out to be a duffel bag full of black, bank-note sized construction paper mixed with some genuine black-dyed $100 bills.

"We're convinced this is part of a scam," Lawrence police Chief John Romero said of the encounter. "We now know how this thing works. It's unbelievable."

A man who called himself "Simon" approached Garcia Saturday at the corner of Jackson and Avon streets, offering him $60,000 for his 2002 BMW 745i — a car valued at $20,000. Garcia first said no, but relented when Simon said he would pay in cash.

Simon told Garcia he had a couple million dollars and was looking to buy cars.

Thinking he could be scammed, robbed or carjacked, Garcia called Lawrence detectives and arranged for them to follow him to the parking lot where he was to meet with "Simon."

As Simon and another man — later identified as his brother — approached Garcia's car with a duffel bag, police stopped them. Afraid the duffel bag contained a weapon, they searched it, finding black construction paper. The construction paper was stacked like money and wrapped in cellophane.

Simon first told police he was a teacher and used the paper in class. He then switched his story, saying it used for Voodoo and that the bag was so important to him, he carried it around everywhere.

"(Simon) informed me he does Voodoo and uses the construction paper when he sacrifices a sheep," Detective. William Colantuoni wrote in reports. "(Simon) went on to say that after killing the sheep he covers it in the paper ... This extraordinary explanation lacked merit."

Police took the two brothers in for questioning, but were not able to charge them with anything.

Detectives did keep the bag of paper as evidence and upon closer inspection found the bag also contained several real $100 bills coated in black dye. The brothers have been calling and asking for the bag.

Once they found the real bills, police contacted the Secret Service, the agency in charge of investigating fraudulent money, and were alerted to this latest variation in a long line of Nigerian money scams.

"There are no charges against the individuals," Romero said. "We have no victims. We have no crime. We don't know if anything's ever happened in Lawrence. We have this black money and we're conducting an investigation."

Romero said anyone who has lost money through this scam or been approached by a scammer should contact their local police department. Lawrence has put out notice to other departments across the state, but have yet to find a similar case.

"We're looking to see if anybody has fallen prey to this particular scam," Romero said. "And we want to prevent people from being future victims as well ... If someone comes forth and can identify these men, we have a case."

The suspect who calls himself Simon is described as a black male in his mid-30's, about 6 feet tall with a muscular build.

Romero said this is the newest in a line of Nigerian scams that use dozens of different story lines but always ask for money up front with the promise of millions in return.

In a recent black money scam, a California resident was recently cheated out of $300,000 for chemicals thinking there was a $1 million in a duffle bag he could clean, Romero said.

"These scams are successful because of people's greed," Romero said. "Your average citizen wouldn't get caught up in anything like this. These people want the easy buck. ... There's no easy money out there."