THE SPANISH SWINDLE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2664, 5 April 1905, Page 61

THE SPANISH SWINDLE.

A WARNING TO THE PUBLIC

i . WELLINGTON, Api . The Government has received- th •.. tho Colonial Office, warning from the c .i.sular authorities in Spain regarding the operations of a gang who perpetrate a fiaud known as " Spanish swindle." The methods vary in detail, but the principal features &ro always the same. The swindlers usually write to =oine person representing that a political prisoner in Spain, either dying or dead, has left hy wiil valuables or property to his distant j relatives. Sometimes the- prisoner has a , daughter, who is left, with her property, to tho guardianship of relative*. If the bait takes, bogus lesfal or official documents I aro forwarded, followed by a request for , monny to enable possession of the e-tato fo be gained. Needless to say, if the mon-ey iis sent nothing more is heard of it. The consular authorities havo rea?on to believe that the gang: are turning their attention to the colonies, and advise the public to be ! warned that the whole affair is a transI parent fraud.