CLEVER SWINDLE

Taranaki Daily News, 22 May 1934, Page 11

CLEVER SWINDLE

LIQUOR, ETC., GAINED BY FRAUD. AUCKLAND FIRMS DUPED. Auckland, May 20. Four or five prominent wine and spirit merchants in Auckland were the victims of a clever fraud perpetrated by an unknown man recently, and were collectively robbed of about £l2O worth of whisky and cigarettes to the value of £5O. Each merchant, unaware that others had also fallen victim to a clever Swindler, kept ’ the matter to himself for several • days. But now that the story has leaked out they are chuckling over the easy manner in which they were duped. The scheme adopted by the trickster was evidently the result of much thought and planning on his part. In the main his method was to telephone a wine arid spirit firm and announce he was the nephew of a well-known publican in the far north. “Jack wants three cases of whisky and three of beer,” he said over the telephone, mentioning brands of liquor desired. “Send the beer to the wharf for shipment. I am returning to-day by car, and I will take the whisky with me.” He also said he would take 40,000 cigarettes, as “Jack” was “out of smokes.” In each of three cases a man was given delivery of three cases of whisky and 40,000 cigarettes. In one case whisky was left at a garage and-collected, while in another case a man called at a large city hotel nd picked three cases up there. In another instance he actually discussed the order with the principal of the firm, and was given three cases of whisky. In a few days’ time a hotelkeeper in the far north began to receive by post invoices and accounts for whisky and cigarettes of which he knew nothing. It was only when various firms received indignant letters of protest from him demanding to know why they had debited him with liquor he had not received or ordered that they realised they had been swindled.