£2,300 CONFIDENCE TRICK

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 November 1936, Page 12

£2,300 CONFIDENCE TRICK

“KRUGER SOVEREIGNS.” LONDON, September 29. Police are searching for two men who have defrauded a prominent Plymouth business man and a well-known doctor of £2,300. A few days ago a man of foreign appearance who had been receiving treatment from the doctor tendered an old Transvaal Kruger sovereign in payment, and mentioned that he knew a man who had 2,000 such sovereigns for sale. The doctor and a business friend agreed after negotiation to purchase-' these for £2,300, and it was arranged that the transaction should be com- | Dieted this afternoon. The foreigner and a companion who could speak only broken English arrived at the surgery carrying a heavy suitcase, which they said contained the 2,000 sovereigns. The purchase money, the bulk of ■which was in £5O notes, was produced, but the meh then said that they would not be able | to complete the deal for another hour. As a pledge of “mutual honesty” the notes -were wrapped in a large handkerchief, which was placed in the suitcase and left in the surgery. When the men tailed to return the suitcase was forced open. The handkerchief was found to contain scraps of paper, and the so-called sovereigns were small stones. A description of the men has been circulated, together with the numbers of the missing notes.