The duped man, from Piteå, in northern Sweden, at first gave the man 300 Euros ($403) to contribute to the scheme, which allegedly promised a return of 64 million kronor, wrote the Piteå-tidningen newspaper.

The scammer had told the man that he was in possession of millions of kronor worth of bank notes, which had been coloured black, and were thus worthless.

With the right cleaning equipment, the man explained that the bank notes could be literally washed, making both men millionaires.

The gullible Piteå man travelled the length of the country to Malmö in order to meet the 30-year-old con-artist, and was so convinced by his plight that he gave him a further 40,000 kronor.

He was persuaded by the scammer to pay more after hearing that the washing process would take longer and cost more than was initially predicted.

The trickster again asked for more money for the cash clean-up, this time claiming that he needed 300,000 Euros before the millions would start pouring in.

The man did not have enough money to cover these alleged costs, and called in a friend to raise the cash.

However, the journey ended one day in November when the “lawyers and UN officials” introduced by the scammer vanished at a blistering speed and with them any chance of the promised windfall.

The trickster is now charged by police of conning the two men out of nearly 2.7 million kronor.