SWINDLER IN LONDON

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 52, Issue 248, 2 August 1932, Page 8

SWINDLER IN LONDON

FRAUDS BY BOOKMAKERS. A PROFITABLE CAREER, A mysterious stranger has netted between £20,000 and £30,000 during the past few months by a series of frauds on bookmakers, mostly in London, and his victims are at their wits' end to know how to prosecute, even if they ascertain his identity. Nobody has ever seen this unknown, who poses as a well-to-do man from various parts of the Empire, makes illicit use of fashionable addresses in the West End, and quotes bankers' references with impunity. His plan of campaign, which has not always met with success, has been to set up as a wealthy Dominion sportsman, or a high official home on leave from one part or other of the Empire, anxious to open a credit betting account while enjoying a holiday. When he has won he has, of course, pocketed the gains, but when he has had a losing week he has omitted to pay his account. As he has had several bookmakers' accounts at one time, he has always been reasonably certain of receiving a cheque each week.

His methods are well illustrated by the experience of the Tof;e Investors Limited, who attend to the away betting operations of the total isator. One day a leading official of the firm opened a letter from the mystery' man, in which the latter said he was Mr X., a provincial commissioner from West Africa, home on several months' leave. Ho wished to open an account with Toto Investors, and gave as his address an expensive suite of rooms in a block of flats in Bayswater. He further stated that his bank was a certain well-known concern doing a large business with Africa.

"We made am inquiry at the bank," the official stated, "and wero told that the man named in the letter was one of their customers, but that the signature on the letter was not his, Jhat he was not in London at the time, but was still in Africa.

"Then we inquired at the Bayswater address, and found that Mr X. was not known there, but that many letters had been reecived for him. The caretaker, not knowing the man, had placed the letters on the notice board near the entrance, and every day they had been taken awav by a mysterious hand.

"Strangely enough, I warned a friend of mine who is in the betting business, and within a fortnight the same man, using the identical name and style of letter, sought to open a credit account.