HOW SOLDIERS' RELATIVES ARE SWINDLED.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 110, 19 November 1915, Page 2 (Supplement)

HOW SOLDIERS' RELATIVES ARE SWINDLED.

SCOUNDRELS WHO POSE As " WO LANDED HEROES

It is one of the unfortunate phases of the war, says an English paper, mat there are Hundreds 01 despicable scoundrels going about to-day, using ther wits and their wiles to fleece the relatives of the gallant lads who are lighting so nobly for us. Relying on the fact that at a time like this tin general public are swayed by sympathetic, generous, and patriotic feelings, these swindlers practise a variety of tricks which it is essential the public should be warned .against. IttE UiPEJtoOAATIOM OODUE. A favourite dodge is to impersonate thy comrade of a soldier at tue Front. .Dressed in khaki, the swindlers call upon the parents and wives oi men in tiie lighting-Une, claim ng to be home on short leave. The usual tale is that they have been asked to call, and havmgh made themselves acquainted *etorehand with particulars of the regiments oi the men they claim to know, uiey are able to tell a story which is readly believed by the unsuspicious relatives. The plausible tale is poured into their eager and sympathetic ears, and it is not until later that they learn that the man they welcomed so heartily, providing hm with food, little luxuries, and money, in the belief that he had come from their son or husband in the fighting-line, wa6 merely a swindler who, when he had got from them all he could, moved on to another town where he proceeded to carry on the same game. BOGUS OFFICERS.

Sometimes those bogus soldiers pos* as wounded heroes and destitute officers. They call on families whom they know to have sons and husbands at the Front, and tell stirring storries of what they have gone through with the regiment to which the soldiers belong. In nine cases out of ten, food and lodging are freely offered, while money is gladly lent to the swindler by the trusting relatives, who feel that they cannot do too much for the man who has brought them such interesting news from the Front. Wha is worse still, officers who have been dismissed from the Army are sometimes to be found among this type of swindler. His scheme is rendered easier by the fact that he is able to tell his tale much better on account of his military knowledge. Moreover, he wears his "old uniform. For it is an extraordinary fact that when an officer is dismissed fro mthe Army, instead of surrendering his uniform, which is really the property of the War Office, and which has been bought with t.iP grant made to him on joining, he is allowed to retain it, and there is nothing to prevent him from continuing to woar it. Lord Athlumney. the Provost Marshal, warned the public a few days ago that a great many men are in this way posing as Army officers and obtaining credit from tradesmen. WARNINGS FROM SCOTLAND YARD. Even the olii "Spanish Treasure" siviuUie is being woiued sucoessluliy in u new guise. .Relatives oi missing soldiers receive letters troin eipam sujiiig taht their sons, hrotnere, or husbands, as the case may be, alter being captured by the Germans and sunermtj many have escaped and got to ijpain, where they are destitute ana too ill to write. He has need of money to pass into Portugal, where he can get a boat to France. Many relatives oi French soldiers have been victimised in this manner, and the swindlers have now extended their operations to England. Apparently they are working on such a sca'e that Scotland Yard lias deemed it necessary to issue a warning against sending money in reply to any such letters, which are "cruel frauds." Scotland Yard is also warning the public to be o ntheir guard against another type of swindler, who, posing as the representative of a committee collecting funds for certain regiments, calls on the relatives of men serving with those regiments and asks for subscriptions. In such cases ptop'eshould insist upon proof of the bona fides ol the caller, who is sometimes a woman for whom the police have been searching in connection with other swindles. Beware also "of the swindler who writes savng taht he has information that soldiers who have been reported dead are still alive and prisoners, and that he can obtain further information about them, which, however, will entail expense. Of course, once the money and parcels are sent, nothing more'is heard about the missing soldier whose relatives' hopes have thus been so cruelly raised.