SILVER FOX SWINDLE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 21 December 1925, Page 5

SILVER FOX SWINDLE.

MAN AND WOMAN DISAPPEAR. £IO.OOO FROM PUBLIC IN A MONTH. The police of Paris, London, and other European cities are looking for an ingenious company promoter who is alleged to have swindled gullible subscribers of more than £IO,OOO in less than a month in connection with a scheme for breeding silver foxes in Europe for the sake of their valuable furs. . . . For some time leading Parisians and others considered as likely to subscribe have been receiving circulars promising fortunes to the lucky people who quickly became co-partners in several pairs of silver foxes which the promoter was importing. - Two companies were formed, with offices in the fashionable Champs Fly sees quartei* of Paris, and enthusiastic prospectuses were- sent to the for-tune-hunters who applied for information. The prospectus said : Everyone dreams of making a fortune, but the opportunities get less and less. There are, however, some lu*kv persons, such as the first subscribers (not to be confused with buyers of shares on the Stock Exchange) of gold mines, oil companies, and rubber plantations, who have seen their capital increase a hundredfold in a few months. This is just now the case with silver foxes. In Canada there are men who a few years ago could hardly get a month’s credit at the grocer’s, and who are now worth £200,000. Office clerks who worked 60 hours a week for £2 have made £BOOO in four years. A company formed chiefly of working women pays a dividend of 180 per cent. A penniless Canadian borrowed the necessary money to purchase a_ couple of foxes, and he is now a millionaire. Funds flowed into the offices of the company, but the police were not impressed bv the silver fox farm scheme, and inquiries were made. They have culminated in the arrest of the so-called representative of the “American banks” interested in the affairs and the interrogation of a former chauffeur who posed as technical adviser to the pany.-,-The principal and his woman friend, n pretty blonde of 21, who skilfully filled the role of publicity director, has disappeared, taking with them, it is all the company’s funds.