CONFIDENCE TRICK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22850, 4 October 1937, Page 12

CONFIDENCE TRICK

NEW ZEALAND VICTIM FLEECED AT ADELAIDE ADELAIDE, Oct. 2 An extraordinary story of how a retired New Zealand civil servant had been fleeced of £362 by means of a confidence trick, was told by him to the police to-day. The visitor said he was walking in a street with an acquaintance whom he had met on the steamer from New Zealand when he saw a wallet whicli the acquaintance picked up. He examined it and it contained share scrip for £20,000, £ls in bank notes and a telegram in code to a man at an Adelaide hotel.

They rang up thai; man, who said that as a reward he would add the £ls on their behalf to a £IOOO betting commission. The horse was reported to have won and tho agent of a bookmaker went to the hotel where the two men were staying. He was carrying a satchel apparently crammed with winnings, amounting to £4IBO, but said he could not pay out unless the punter had the £IOOO bet in cash as tho bet might not have been honoured if tho horse had lost. Tho Now Zealander handed over £362.

Later the bettor explained that, as a result of a misunderstanding, he had invested the whole of tho winnings on another horse, which, had lo.st. Tho acquaintance promised to refund the money to the New Zealander, who left for Perth, where the acquaintance promised to meet him but failed to do so. " The New Zealander had to borrow his return fare to Adelaide.