MMB Chapter 17 Exposing the Scam
Chapter 17 Exposing the Scam
The man in the plaid shirt stammered, "There are only a little over five thousand in here..."
"Bullshit! I had 30,000 yuan and a gold chain in here! So much is missing now, you must have taken it!"
The tall, thin man roared, "Speak! Who took it?"
The fat man hurriedly explained, "We didn't take it! We just found it and that's what we're doing!"
"Impossible!" The tall, thin man grabbed the fat man's collar. "I lost it right here! Less than five minutes later! You guys must have hidden it!"
The middle-aged woman shrieked, "Don't make false accusations! We kindly found your things, and you're blaming us!"
The tall, thin man sneered, "Kindness? Then why don't you just return it to me intact? You're clearly trying to pocket it!"
As he spoke, he suddenly pulled out a small notebook: "Let me tell you, this money is public funds, and I've written down the serial number of every single one! I'll check it now, and if they match, none of you will escape!"
Upon hearing this, the three fat men turned pale.
Money with serial numbers recorded? If that matches, it's irrefutable evidence.
The tall, thin man looked at the fat man first: "Give me all the money you have! I need to check!"
Helpless, the fat man reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of cash, about seven or eight hundred yuan.
The tall, thin man snatched the card, quickly flipped through it, and suddenly pulled out one: "This one! The last four digits are BK24387268! That's the number I remembered!"
The fat man's eyes widened: "This...this is my own money!"
The tall, thin man ignored him and promptly stuffed the money into his pocket.
Then, she looked at the man in the plaid shirt: "Yours!"
The man in the plaid shirt reluctantly took out his wallet, which contained three or four hundred yuan.
After looking through them, the tall, thin man pulled out two more: "These two are mine too! The last two digits match!"
"Impossible..." The man in the plaid shirt wanted his money back, but it was no longer possible.
"And you!" the tall, thin man pointed at the middle-aged woman.
The middle-aged woman, pale-faced, slowly pulled a handkerchief pouch from her bosom, inside which were five or six hundred yuan.
After checking, the tall, thin man found three more bills that "belonged to him".
Then, the tall, thin man walked into the cubicle.
He snorted menacingly, "You three, hand over the money for inspection!"
Lin Feng cursed inwardly. Losing a bag, finding money, dividing the loot, the owner appearing... This routine was overdone on TV in his previous life.
He didn't react immediately, but looked at the man in the suit and the girl.
The tall, thin man's gaze fell on the little girl.
"Young lady, hand over your money so I can check it. If there's nothing wrong, I'll believe you're innocent."
The girl was so scared that she trembled all over.
"I...I have no money..." She lowered her head, not daring to look the other person in the eye.
The tall, thin man deliberately tried to scare her, saying, "Hurry up, don't force me to do it."
The girl bit her lip, tears welling in her eyes. Trembling, she pulled out a small bag and opened it layer by layer. Inside were about five hundred yuan.
The tall, thin man snatched it and began to examine it. Suddenly, he pulled out two hundred-yuan bills:
"These two! The last two digits match! They're my money!"
"No...no..." the girl burst into tears. "My dad gave it to me."
The tall, thin man sneered, "The serial number on the money your dad gave you is exactly the same as the one I remember?"
He stuffed the two bills into his pocket and then threw the rest of the money back to the girl.
But in that instant of tossing and catching, Lin Feng saw his fingers quickly swipe inside the cloth bag.
The girl took the cloth bag, counted her money, and pulled out a hundred-yuan bill. She ran her fingers over the bill twice, then burst into a shrill cry:
"This isn't my money! My money is real...this is fake!!"
She held the banknote up to the light. The paper was thin, the printing was blurry, and the watermark was almost invisible.
A poorly made counterfeit bill.
"You...give me my money back!" The girl clutched the counterfeit bill, trembling with sobs, and cried out desperately to the conman.
"This money...this money is the medical expenses the factory paid for my dad's broken leg in the mine! My dad wouldn't take any good medicine, he gave it all to me to take with him so I could find a way to make a living in Shenzhen..."
The tall, thin man's expression changed: "What nonsense are you talking about! This money was taken from your bag!"
The girl knelt down and hugged the man's legs: "Please... give me back my money... this is the money for my father's broken leg!"
The tall, thin man kicked her away: "Get lost, you country bumpkin."
The surrounding passengers had already figured it out, and someone in the crowd cursed, "Beast."
"How despicable! They even cheat young girls out of their money..."
A few people whispered in agreement, but no one dared to move.
But everyone's anger was already building up in the carriage.
At this moment, Lin Feng stepped forward to help the girl up, and then stood in front of the tall, thin man.
He demanded sharply of the tall, thin man, "You're saying all this money is yours?"
"Nonsense! Of course it's mine!" The tall, thin man felt uneasy under his gaze, but still forced a threatening tone, "Kid, don't cause trouble! Hand over your money for inspection!"
"You say it's all your money, then do you dare to say the serial number of every single bill in front of everyone?"
The tall, thin man choked, his expression changing slightly: "You...you're being unreasonable!"
"Can't remember?" Lin Feng stopped wasting words with him and suddenly grabbed the other's wrist holding the envelope, twisting it forcefully!
"Ouch!" The tall, thin man winced in pain, his fingers loosened, and the envelope fell to the ground.
Lin Feng caught it mid-air with swift, clean movements. He turned to face the onlookers, holding up the envelope: "Everyone, watch closely! I'm going to expose this trick right now!"
He emptied all the money from the envelope, and then, in full view of everyone, his fingers flew across the paper as he quickly sorted through it.
The first eight real banknotes were held in the left hand.
He stacked the remaining forty-four sheets together and held them in his right hand.
He raised his left hand towards the overhead light: "Look, everyone! Real banknotes have crisp paper and clear watermarks. The metallic security thread is embedded in the paper; when you hold it up to the light, it appears continuous."
Then, he raised his right hand, holding it up to the light: "The counterfeit bills are made of flimsy paper, the watermark is blurry, it's just surface printing! The security thread is just printed on!"
He held up the real and counterfeit bills side by side and moved them back and forth so that passengers in the front and back rows could clearly see the difference.
"My God, it's counterfeit money!"
"They're hard to tell apart when mixed together, but this comparison clearly distinguishes the real from the fake!"
The crowd stirred, and shouts of anger rose and fell.
Lin Feng unfolded a small portion of the counterfeit bills like a fan, pointing to the corner: "Look here, everyone! These counterfeit bills are all consecutive numbers! This one ends in '3781,' this one next to it ends in '3782,' and the next one is '3783'... The counterfeiting is so perfunctory!"
Faced with the accusations and curses of the crowd, the tall, thin man panicked.
Lin Feng threw the counterfeit money back at the tall, thin man's face like it was scrap paper, and shouted angrily, "You stole money from someone's father's broken leg! You heartless swindler! Everyone, let's catch this swindler!"
The anger in the carriage was completely ignited. The passengers' fury towards the swindler and their sympathy for the little girl instantly transformed into a raging inferno!
"You heartless bastard!"
"Beat him up!"
Seeing that things were not going well, the tall, thin man shoved a passenger aside and tried to rush towards the connecting area between the carriages.
"Trying to run?!" Lin Feng had anticipated this move and took a long stride, quickly blocking his way.
Almost simultaneously, the man in the suit roared, "Stop him!" He pounced from the side, his strong arms gripping the tall, thin man's neck tightly.
Seeing this, the three fat men knew that if they didn't act soon, they would be in deep trouble, so they quickly stepped forward and pretended to help.
"Catch the swindler!" Lin Feng roared, his voice echoing throughout the carriage.
At this moment, the male passengers in the front and back compartments rushed over, and the angry crowd surrounded the tall, thin man, pressing him firmly to the ground with countless hands, rendering him unable to move.
"My son was cheated out of his tuition by you damned bastards!" An elderly woman's pent-up grief finally erupted as she cried out and grabbed a kettle, smashing it over the head of one of the swindlers.
"All the hard-earned money I made on the construction site was swindled away by your kind of switcheroo tricks!" A migrant worker, his eyes bloodshot, squeezed in and punched the lewd man hard in the face.
"beat!"
"Kill this liar!"
The crowd was outraged. The more arrogant the scammers had been before, the more pathetic they were now.
Punches and kicks rained down, including from passengers who had previously dared not speak out, now venting their anger completely.
The tall, thin man could only cover his head, curled up on the ground, and let out pig-like screams: "Stop hitting me! Stop hitting me! Help me..."