"COLD BRICK" FRAUD.

Colonist, Volume LII, Issue 1271, 12 February 1910, Page 1

"COLD BRICK" FRAUD.

lii the person of Charles Adams, an elderly, grey-haired man, the police be'ieve they have arrested the leader of a notorious gang of mining swindle operators who have fleeced their , victims — mostly "English, people — of £50;OOU. 'Lite scheme of the gang, according io the police allegation, was to scan the death announcements in the English newspapers. WJien a prominent man disci they would write to him a letter, which naturally fell into the hands of his heirs. The writer would pretend to Iki an. old friend of the deceased, bound to him by ties of gratitude. He would announce that lie was now rich, and invite him to share liis fortune by investing in a mine. The object was, of course, to get the executors to provide money. Several of these letters, addressed to dead men in England, have fallen into the hands of the police, who state that one woman, the widow 'of v wealthy Londoner, was fleeced or' £10,000. "Gold brick" letters, nearly all of them couched in identical terms, liave reached England in hundreds, and the scandal a little while ago attained such proportions that Scotland Yard issued a warning to the public explaining how the fraud is worked. The police warning stated that if the story of the swindlers was believed it led sometimes to the "despatch of a messenger to America to receive bullion found. When this stage is reached a demand for money is on some pretext or other sprung upon the victim, who iv the end is generally fleeced to a very considerable amount by the production of what appear to be bars, or bricks of solid gold." A widow in England was recently offered a half share in a gold mine of fabulous wealth, but she was required to pay £7000 in cash. Questions •raised, by her bankers when th» money was being withdrawn proved her safeguard. Another widow, who> was about to advance £4000 "to develop the mine," was also saved by the com-mon-sense of her bankers. In another ease a man left for America carrying with him a large sum to pay for a share in a mine, but soon after his departure further injuries were made and a. cablegram saved his money.