PHANTOM ANTIMONY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13396, 26 January 1907, Page 2 (Supplement)

PHANTOM ANTIMONY.

CITY MERCHANTS VICTIMS OP SWINDLERS.

Ax audacious series of frauds lias been perpetrated in London by which more than £10,000 has been obtained by two men.

The frauds were in connection with deliveries of antimony , ore—an extremely scarce and precious metal, the supply of which is controlled by a handful at people;

Early in the year two men of good appearance, apparently foreigners, made their appearance in, London- They look two suites of offices—one in the Wool Exchange and the other iu a large block of offices oil Bishopsgate.

On the door of one office they had painted the same name as that of a well-known shipping firm, and on the other office the title of a Spanish shipping and insurance firm.

On the strength of their knowledge of the antimony business they obtained an introduction to several important firms, ineluding a firm of colonial merchants. So plausible was their manner and so excellent were the references relating to themselves which they exchanged between their two offices that confidence was soon established.

They stated that a vessel laden with antimony ore was lying in a Spanish port, and they were prepared to part with 400 tons of this cargo at "bargain prices." ft is the custom in this business to pay vash on production ot bills of lading, and these they produced. Every detail en the bills of lading and ship's papers were complete, and there were no fewer than fourteen signatures to attest their authenticity. Recently everything was complete, and one of the 'partners in the fraud was paid £7200 in notes and cash on giving up the bills o! lading, while other smaller coups were brought off. On being paid this sum £3600 was instantly taken by one man to a firm of bankers, who were instructed to cable a credit for that amount to a Paris bank, where it was quickly drawn out by the other man, who had left for France (he day before. The ship they spoke of is unknown at, Lloyd's, and is believed to exist onlv ia the fertile imagination of the swindlers.