Two men dressed in space suits trick a businessman out of $200,000

A businessman in India was suckered out of $200,000 by two men dressed in cheap silver space suits. The swindlers are a father and son team, who pretended to have special palm-sized copper plates that could “generate electricity from thunderbolts.” They said the plates could be sold to NASA for hundreds of millions of dollars, and at least one gullible New Delhi businessman fell for the hoax.

According to The Guardian:

Their fake device was apparently based on rare copper “that had been struck by a thunderbolt” so that it could magnetise rice, police explained.

A copper plate covered in a thin magnetic liquid and rice mixed with iron filings were used to show off the machine.

The pair, who employed actors to wear radiation suits and staged fake tests, had said they needed money to develop the invention, detectives said.

The New Delhi businessman became suspicious when promised experiments were repeatedly called off, mainly because of bad weather. He went to police and acknowledged he had handed over more than $200,000.

The grifters were already out on bail for another scam in which they sold “medicinal” snakes for $25,000 a pop.

I’m not sure which is more unbelievable – that two men thought it was a good idea to wear shiny space suits to pose as salesmen, or that a businessman actually believed it was normal for salesmen to be dressed up in cheap silver costumes. Either way, at least it’s been a fun topic on Twitter.