FAKED 'MESSAGE

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 36, 11 August 1930, Page 6

FAKED 'MESSAGE

BOLD SWINDLE WORKED

Illicit betting renders '. the bookmaker liable to victimisation unless lie takes precautions against paying out on horfees that have not won. An instance in point occurred recently in a Melbourne suburb. At an outlying hotel money can be invested at. set prices. One of the candidates for a certain event at a recent country meeting was backed to win <£50. Taking advantage of there being no broadcast of these races, originators of the swindle sent a spurious telephone mesage from a neighbouring hotel, representing that the horse had won. Ostensibly the news came from an agency which supplied racing results. On application for the £50 being made, it was paid over in good faith by the bookmaker, who later discovered that he had been victimised, but, of course, could not seek legal redress.

This recalls what happened more than 20 years ago in the city. There was a Bourke street "club" which licensed persons to bet on the premises. Races were in progress at Plemington, and a horse named Blue Jacket appeared on Hie board as "unlikely starter" in the steeplechase. Support accorded this horse ;it Jio club occasioned surprise, -which increased on the receipt of telephonic advice that Blue Jacket had won. Settlement of some wagers had been effected when a telegram arrived and revealed the hoax. It transpired that a lad in the telegraph office had been bribed to verbally mutilate the telegram when 'phoning its contents before dispatch by messenger.