TRICKED OUT OF £50,000

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 320, 21 February 1910, Page 5

TRICKED OUT OF £50,000

ENGLISH VICTIMS OF THE POSTMORTEM SWINDLE.

New York, December 22.

The police arrested a man named Charles Adams this afternoon on a charge of fleecing various English people out of £50,000 during the past live years by variations oi the "confidence" trick.

Adams is alleged to be the leader of a gang of swindlers who watched the death notices in the London papers. When they saw that a business man was dead, a member of the gang wrote him a long letter recalling the fact that the deceased luid been a groat; friend of the writer, and had loaned him money

years ego. This money the writer wished to repay by informing the deceased that a fortune was awaiting him if he would invest in certain securities. The writer urged the deceased to send the money immediately.

The gang counted on the letter being read by the relatives' of the dead man, believing that, the latter would send the money as requested. A surprisingly large number of people have been swindled in this manner. A chief inspector of the Posf Oft'ioe Department,,' who tracked Adams, says that one woman, the widow of a wealthy Englishman, whose name is withheld, wav recently swindled out of €IO.OOO, while another London v'ptim lost .£4OOO.