By Holly Menino

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. -- What started as a proposed business investment turned out to be a scam for one Springfield woman. The victim is out thousand of dollars and police are trying to track down the person responsible.

The most recent scam to cross the desk of Springfield Police Detective Robert Conrad started with a piece of black paper about the size of a dollar bill.

"He stated that his father was a Nigerian Bank President who was sending him money to start up a business and would send him money that was camoflouaged by this black substance and was able to get it into the country and past officials it didn't look like money," he said.

The victim told police a friend of her boyfriend's came to her with a business proposition.

"He was suppose to give her part of the profit for helping get this money in and get it cleaned up and ready for investment here," said Conrad.

The victim withdrew $6,000 from her bank account to invest in this alleged business. After she had the money, the man instructed her to put a black piece of paper in with each bill. They poured chemicals on it and wrapped the money in aluminum foil.

"The suspect said it needs to sit in the solution for several days, so don't open the packages for several days cause you'll ruin the chemical reaction," said Conrad.

The next day, the man was gone, but the packages were still there. The promise he'd made seemed suspicious. A quick internet search by the victim cleared it all up. She'd been scammed.

"She waited several days opened them up and realized all the real money was gone and all that was left was just black construction paper," said Conrad.

The victim now out $6,000, and police are left with very little to track down the suspect.

"All I have is a guy named Sam who says his father is a Nigerian Bank President, so we have a phone number we're doing some checking at this point I don't have anything further," said Conrad.

Police say before you give anyone any amount of cash, think about what you're doing. If you're not sure, do some investigating or contact police. That step might just save you a lot money.

If you know anything about this scam or the suspect, call the Crimestoppers tip line at 1-877-876-TIPS. You could earn up to a $1,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest.