Auctioneer Victimised.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 23 March 1910, Page 4

Auctioneer Victimised.

A CLEVER SWINDLE. Recently a Sydney auctioneer was the victim of a clever swindle. He had a property at Watson's «.ay for sale, and a young man called on him, and stated that his father was an American millionaire about to visit Australia, and had instructed him to acquire a property with a water frontage. The property at Watson's Bay, of which there was a photograph in the auctioneer's window, would, ho .said, just suit. The auctioneer mud the prospective buyer visited tlie property and the price fixed was £4500. They returned to the city (says the Gisborne Times), and the man wrote an open cheque for £1000. to clinch the transaction. Both apparently satisfied, they lunched together at an adjoining hotel, where the youth filled in a cheque for several pounds, but the hotelkeeper demurred to taking the cheque, and the auctioneer endorsed it. The money was then paid over by the auctioneer. Next morning the owner of the property visited the auctioneer's office, and, on. being shown the cheque for £1000, instructed the auctioneer to cash it, retain his commission of £125, and pay the balance into Jtis (the owner's) account. A lad was sent round to the bank, and returned with the information that there was no sucli account, and almost simultaneously came a message from the hotelkeeper that his cheque had been returned.