'NASA Con Men' Arrested in Aluminum Foil Spacesuits, Accused of Selling Fake Copper 'Struck by Thunderbolt'

Police in India have arrested a father and son who allegedly conned a businessman by claiming a copper plate they possessed had been struck by a thunderbolt and had special properties, reported The Telegraph.

While announcing the arrests, police trotted out the alleged con men in their spacesuits, which were apparently crafted with aluminum foil. According to The Telegraph, police allege Virender Mohan Brar and his son Nitin Mohan Brar swindled a man out nearly $214,000, convincing him to invest in a "rare piece of copper plate struck by a thunderbolt" that would pull rice toward it.

The duo allegedly claimed to be employees of NASA—earning the moniker the "NASA con men"—and told the businessman that they would be able to sell the so-called "rice puller" to the space agency for $5.5 billion, reported the BBC. A rice puller is a "nonexistent thing," police said, via the the BBC.

The duo allegedly used "liquid magnet" to fool the businessman, who as identified only as Narender. "They take a copper plate or utensil and coat it with liquid magnet, and then fill some boiled rice with small iron filings and fool the victim by pulling the rice grain towards the magnet-coated copper article," Alok Kumar, joint commissioner of Delhi Police's crime branch, told The Telegraph.

The alleged con was pretty involved. The Brar duo would apparently pay actors to wear fake radiation suits and conduct fake tests, reported Agence France Presse. The news agency also reported that Narender was far from the only victim. Police alleged the father and son conned up to 30 people.

Social media, of course, thought the whole ordeal was pretty hilarious—claiming the pair looked straight off of a B-movie set. You can watch video of the alleged "NASA con men" here.