Take one pile of bills and one pile of blank paper, marinate it in some special sauce, stir and let sit overnight, and presto! You’ve been conned.

A Vietnamese man in Norway recently lost around $35,000 after falling for a get-rich-quick scheme.

But we’ve got no sympathy for the man — anyone dumb enough to fall for this ploy probably shouldn’t have access to $35,000.

Apparently, the victim was convinced by a Frenchman to leave a mixture of his real cash with blank bills to sit in a special liquid overnight. The next morning, he expected to find double the amount of cash for his spending pleasure.

So, soak the real bills with the fake ones, and it’ll all turn into cash in just a few hours. What, weren’t there any magical beans that could get the job done quicker?

Of course, when the victim showed up to claim his prize, the cash, the con man and the marinade had disappeared.

The Frenchman was eventually found, but local police are having a hard time building a credible case against him. Office Ragnar Ingberg said the victim “has given a statement that leads us to believe that he really believed this was possible. But we are of course having a hard time understanding how someone could actually believe such a tall tale.”

Defense lawyers for the Frenchman are just as incredulous. He was apparently in Norway to purchase specialty used cars to sell to client in Africa, and he’s “extremely surprised to be charged with something that is so incredible.”

“This sounds completely crazy,” said the Frenchman’s lawyers.

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Tags: Con man, Counterfeit bills, Get-rich-quick