FORGED TICKETS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22320, 18 January 1936, Page 2 (Supplement)

FORGED TICKETS

DOG RACE MEETINGS TOTALISATOR DEFRAUDED NEW SAFEGUARDS INTRODUCED Elaborate fraud-prevention and fraud-protection measures have now been adopted at the leading London greyhound tracks to checkmate the clever gang of " tote " ticket forgers. The steps which have been taken to outwit the forgers were devised after consulation with experts of Scotland Yard's new crime laboratory at Hendon. Precautions have been taken to prevent every conceivable kind of forgery, and the grevhound companies are confident that the new system is entirely fraud-proof. Attention was first directed to tlio frauds when an audit of tho " tote accounts disclosed that on certain races the number of " winning " tickets in respect of which payment had been made excedcd the number that had actuallv been issued. Careful examination showed that a number of £1 and 10s tickets had been forged. Tho trap number marked on tho ticket when it was issued hud been skilfully erased* and tho winning trap number substituted. . This had been done in tho short interval between races, and it was obvious that tho swindlers must have been equipped with pocket forgery sets to enable them to commit the forgeries actually in the stadium premises. Tho first step that has been taken to make a repetition of the forgeries impossible has been to change the paper on which the tickets are printed. A special impregnated paper is now used

which is instantly discoloured on contact with any erasive chemical. Immediately after the discovery of the first forgeries, detectives mixed with the crowds at the greyhound tracks in the hope of catching the forgers red-handed. A secret system of signalling was arranged to attract the attention of a detective immediately a ticket which aroused suspicion was presented at a paying-out booth. In this way the detectives were able on two or three occasions to detain men who had presented forged tickets for payment, but in each case it was found that these men were only innocent dupes. The actual forgers had been too cautious to risk presenting tickets themselves, and had induced casual acquaintances among the crowd in the stand to go on their-behalf to the pay-ing-out wickets. Warnings are now being issued to the crowds at the greyhound tracks against the traffic in forged tickets. Safeguards have also been introduced against another form of ticket forgery. This consists of shaving off the top part of the paper on that half of the ticket on which the trap number is printed. A thin piece of paper of the same colour bearing the winning number is then carefully pasted on the blank space. The result is a ticket, bearing the winning number, which is half genuine and half forged. Two examples of this type of forgery have como to light. The forgery had been executed so skilfully that it was apparent only on the closest inspection. Secret code signs are now printed on the top and bottom of each ticket to circumvent this type of forgery. Many other precautions have been adopted but these are being kept secret. It is stated, however, that the now chemically-treated paper is in itself such an effective safeguard against forgery that since it was put in uso there has been no single attempt to present a forged ticket for paymont.