RIVIERA TRICKSTERS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 19 January 1927, Page 3

RIVIERA TRICKSTERS.

A £SOOO FRAUD. A CORNISHAN DUPED. LONDON, Nov. 16. From time w> time wealthy visitor s from the dominions are relieved of large sums of money by “confidence tricksters. ’’ A year or so ago a New Actual id er in London was relieved of £2OOO, and this past summer it was reported that another New Zealander (had lost £SOOO in Italy in this manner, thougn the details of the incident were never revealed. A -story told by the Daily Mail regarding ;a Oornishman demonstrates the methods employed by those clever rogues in extracting money from their victims. There are two men using the names of AValker and Bond who are known to- the' authorities as tne principal agents of an international organisation, .and these are the men who figure in the pmsent swindle. The Oornishman was spending a holiday at San Remo, and was awaiting the arrival of the London newspapei s at a, kiosk, when the trickster —who lias since been identified as AValker — approached and, overhearing his order to the attendant, remarked that “it was a treat to hear English being spoken.” AValker stated that he was travelling alone for health and had business inteiests as a diamond merchant in Capetown and other parts of South Africa. He bore himself as an invalid and mentioned the name of a nursing home which he said he had just left after an operation. A PROFIT OF £200,000. Other meetings between the two tool; place, .and one day AValker pointed out a man sitting near whom, he .stated, he was sure he had met at a house of a prominent London financier. AValker approached him, and the man, after a long pretence that lie did not recognise AValker, ultimately said he was able to " recall the circumstances of the alleged meeting on London. This man has since proved to be Bond, believed to belong to the United States. Bond stated that he was one of the European managers of a (syndicate, controlled by seven American millionaires, which daily operated on the Continental Exchanges. He declared that lie was worried owing to the fact that lie was likely to be suspected by the syndicates, because an interview with him be appeared in an American newspaper describing the circumstances in which he had made a profit of £200.06,1 on exchange transactions in one after-

noon. He produced what appeared to be a stamped contract with the syndicate .containing a condition that he would be liable to instant dismissal if he ever revealed the nature or extent of its operations. At a later mooting Bond stated that Ins suspension seemed so likely that, he was determined to “make a bit for Inn.self,” beforehand by using the into nuabion about the financial markets contained in cablegrams from the syndicate, three of which he received daily and always showed to AValker .and the English visitor. He suggested to AA’alker and the Oornishman that they might co-operate with him. TELEGRAMS FROM AMERICA. From San Remo the three men went to Turin, and following the receipt of a cablegram from America, Bond gave AValker about £4OOO and instructions how he should buy certain stocks on the local exchange that day. AValker, on returning, made the .statement that there had been a clear profit of £45,000. but that he had been refused a settlement until he and his fellow-investor (the Cornish man) were able to produce proof or lodge a deposit of £IOO,OOO each a.g evidence that they would have been able to .settle a losing account. Bond at once cabled a. friend in America for £IO,OOO, and received a reply signed “Margaret/’ who, he said, was "his friend’s wife, stating that lie had gone to the Argentine and temitting £SOOO and an’offer of a guarantee for a. further £15,000. VICTIM SELLS HIS AVAR, STOCK. On the strength of this the Oornishman, accompanied by AVaiker, proceeded to London to realise his .shares. The Oornishman sold £SOOO worth of AYur Loan stock and cabled the proceeds to a, hank in Turin. AValker later .stated that he had also .sent a similar amount and would draw another £SOOO from Antwerp bank. Returning to Turin the two men were met by Bond, who said lie had been ordered to Brussels. On his advice the Oornishman withdrew his £SOOO from the Turin bank iso that

it might be deposited at the Brussels exchange, and Walker, after pretending to telephone to bankers in Antwerp for £SOOO to be sent to him at Brussels also “agreed” to withdraw hi.s £SOOO. A.t Brussels, AValker, who now had charge of the Cornishman’s £SOOO was again sent to the exchange with instruction®. to sell certain stocks. AVhen he returned lie stated that he had invested £69,000, and casually remarked that it had been unusually easy to buy the stocks. SCENE STAGED FOR. TH E,' OCCASION. “Wliatt” Bond screamed, “do you mean to say you have been buying .1 told you to sell !” As, he said this Bond rushed at lii.s confederate as 0 to assault him and desisted only when Walker besought him to remember tlmi he was an invalid. Tliis “scene,” staged for the occasion, deceived the still unsuspecting Oornishman into the belief that a genuine mistake had been made, and lie accepted Bond’s advice to proceed to Zurich with the assurance that their losses would he recovered there. Bond stated that after settling his own business in 1! rosso Is he would follow by the night train, but the Oornishman has not seen him or AVaiker again. A visit to Scotland Hard has revealed to him that the financial operator and the invalid are the svjijeets of a world-wide police .search.