ATTEMPTS AT EXTORTION

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23976, 17 June 1943, Page 4

ATTEMPTS AT EXTORTION

COMPLAINT BY MOTHER OF SERVICEMEN ALLEGED FORGERY OF CABLES Methods which have apparently been adopted by unscrupulous persons to extort money from relatives of men serving in the New Zealand Armed Forces overseas, have been revealed in a letter to the editor of “The Press” from Mrs E. S. Philip, of Amberley. Mrs Philip has two sons, one of whom has been serving In the Middle East forces, and the other with the Royal Air Force in England. Before leaving for overseas, the two men arranged with their mother to incorporate a certain code word in any letters or cablegrams in which requests for money were made. On December 17, 1942, Mrs Philip received a cablegram purporting to come from her son in England, asking her to send him the sum of £5. The code word agreed upon was not included in the text of the message. Mrs Philip did not send the money as requested, but wrote to her son asking for confirmation. She later received an answer indicating that her son had not sent the cablegram. Last month, Mrs Philip received a similar request for £lO, which purported to come from her other son in the Middle East, and again no code word was used. She immediately cabled to her son, who replied that he had made no request for money. “I feel that the public should know of this," states Mrs Philip, “as it Is maddening to think of cheats getting money our boys are working and suffering so much to earn. I hope this letter may help in some way to stop them. I know the authorities have taken all the precautions possible, but there seem to be loop-holes both in England and in the Middle East. 1 *