Conmen 'used Monopoly money' to buy rings and necklace worth €6 million

Two conmen used a suitcase full of Monopoly money to buy jewellery worth €6 million, it has been reported.

A Greek jeweller has claimed he was conned when he travelled to Paris to carry out a transaction with two men who had contacted him several weeks previously claiming to want to buy four rings and a necklace.

The two men apparently brought a suitcase with €6m cash to the meeting on September 25.

In order to check its authenticity, the jeweller told police he took a bundle of €500 notes from the case to a currency exchange, Le Parisien reported, as cited by The Local.

It was only once the deal had been completed and the clients had left that the jeweller checked the rest of the money, only to realise it was mainly Monopoly money.

Last year it was reported how jewellers in southern France had claimed they were being targeted by thieves as never before.

At the time, the country had seen a spate of high-profile jewellery thefts.

That summer a single gunman in Cannes took an £85.5m cache, while another armed robbery took place days later in the same city.

Christine Boquet, president of the union of jewellers and watchmakers, said: "The number of jewelry store robberies has been climbing for years. There's one robbery a day in France.

"This creates enormous stress for the merchants. They live with this fear and insecurity every day."