CAUTION BY POLICE.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2006, 13 March 1914, Page 8

CAUTION BY POLICE.

TO TOURING COLONIALS. LONDON CONFIDENCE MEN. It is not uncommon tor coloniate (and among 'them somo New Zealanders) to he fleece! in London by confidence- roeii. Complaints pour in at Scotland Yard from time to time, but, owing to the fact that the victims almost invariably leave for homo shortly after making their complaints, it is impossible for t'lib detcctiyo force to bring the criminals to justice. The Scotland Yard authorities have therefore issued a- warning., in a letter to the High Commissioner. Tho letter is signed by Superintendent. B. H. Thomson, of the Criminal Investigation Department, Scotland Yard. Text of Letter from LondMit The letter was forwarded on by the High Commissioner to the Prime Minister of New Zealand, who in. turn passed it over to Commissioner C'ulletl, of the New Zealand police. Tho Camnjissroner has made tho correspondence a-va.ifeblo for publication, The- communication reads as follows :•— , ...Criminal Investigation Department, New Scotland Yard, liOndoii, ti.^t. ■ To tho High Otimmissioiief for' New Zealand, . 13 Victoria Street, S*W. Sir,—ln view of tho largo rramber of visitors from New Zealand who have been victimised by the "coii* fidence trick" in liMjteu, I have prepared a police warning, giving details of the trick as oomjponly practised, in the- hepe that it may be circulated aa widely as possible among the leading newspapers in New Zealand. Tkfi fraud, wliicli is very profitable, is, as a rale, practised with impunity, because, wheft ono of the tricksters- is arrested, tho victim cannot afford to wait in this country to pnjseettto him. Cases have become So titiifteraus ■ of late that a warning df ttis Isind seems to be called fori—l am, etc., (Signed) B. H. THOMSON. December "30, 1913. How the Frauds "Are Worked. The Scotland Yard eanimimfcatioft described the modus opqraudi as follows: ' The criminals Who get- their living by this kind of fraud select their victims among American, Canadian, and Australian visitors. Their principal hunting grounds are tho British Museum, Trafalgar Square, and the vicinity of tho steamship offices in Codispuf Street and 'Westminster Albej , . There are several variants of the fraud; the commonest is for a toan whom we will call "A" to approach the victim, add, pretending to takij him , fat a Londoner, to ask him for information on somts point of historical interest. On the victim declaring himself to ho a stranger , in London, and mentioning his native town,, "A" claims acquaintance as a fellow-townsman and invites tlio victim to lunch with him. As they are going along the street they overtake a secant! man "B," who drops a satchel ot an <?n----velopo just in front of them. Tho victim picks it up and restores it to its owner, who professes extravagant Kratitude, saying that tile envelope contains tho proof of his inheritance of a large fortune from the will of an uficie. Sometimes he shows theft a newspaper cutting purporting to give tho result of a lawsuit which ho says has bee-ii decided in his favour. "B' , ' thon invite , the two to lunch with hint, itmd iil the' courso of tho meal tells , thorn that his undo made.a very eccentric will, and that ho is 'at h.is wit's-Snd to-'know, how to comply with one oFtTio coadi-. tions, which is .that .he .is. to distribute £5000 among the poor of London and a like sum among the poof of. the victim's native State. Ho is actually looking for two conscientious flnd trustworthy almoners to do this for him, and he i-S ready to pay each of ■ them £500 for their trouble. After some conversation "A" volunteers to -Undertake the distribution in London; "JB" appears to bo suspicious and objects that their acquaintance is too slight to warrant him in reposing such ■ confideiiee in him. "A" then produces from hia pocket a bundle of what appear to be hauls notes (issued, however, -not fey tho Banll of England, but by the "Bank of Engraving"), and to show his confidence in "B," begs him to take them out of the room. After a good deal of presses* "B" complies, and on his return an agreement is draws up, and "B" hands over to "A" what appears to fife £5000 in notes. It is then the victim's turn. Allured by the prospect of wiiiniftg £800 for nothing, the victim scarcely requires the persuasion of "A" to volunteer to distribute £SQQQ among the poor of his native State. In order to establish "confidence" he is induced to go with "A" to his bank and , <3r.nw oiit £100 or £150 in notes. The comedy is then repeated; only tjtis time it lias its tragic side. "B" disappears with the notes and, after a long interval, "A" eoes out to see what liaa become of him.. "Inexhaustible Supply of Pupcs." Naturally tho victim never sees them again, unless, after lodging & complaint; ho is called to identify them at the police station, when, as has been said, ,lw has to decide whether lift will stay to prosecuto and so forfeit his passage money, or put up with his loss. In, credible as it may seem, the supply of_ dupes seems to be inexhaustible, The' trickster's season begins about April, and continues until tlio tost visitor has left England late in the autumn, if visitors would use ordinary common sense in their intercourse with chance acquaintances the business of tire confidence trickster would ho mined.

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