Frauds and Frauds.

Gisborne Standard and Cook County Gazette, Volume II, Issue 286, 13 April 1889, Page 2

Frauds and Frauds.

London, February 17. An ingenious gold-dust fraud has been added, says the Vienna correspondent of the Standard, to the recent electrio-sugar and gold-mining swindles, and many persons in Austria, and probably in other countries, have fallen victims to it. It seems that it is forbidden, by Article 612 of the Russian Criminal Code, to buy or sell gold, whether in nuggets or dust, since the Russian Government itself procures it from the Siberian mines and sells it direct to the gold-workere. It is also forbidden to export gold from Russia, except under a special license. This law has been made the basis of a swindle, carried out by a number of persons in a seaport of Northern Russia, who wrote to well-to-do people in other countries, offering what they called an excellent bargain. Their customers could forward certain sums on receipt of quantities of gold-dust, which the agents of the company would deliver at specified frontier stations, and smuggle over the border as passengers’ luggage. The price charged would ba half the market value of the gold. Those who could not travel themselves to the frontier stations might send their servants or confidential agents, and the process could be repeated as often as they liked. It is surprisjng to learn that even Vienna aristocrats fell into the trap. One noble consented to enter into transactions to the value of fifty thousand roubles. He was first shown a small quantity of gold-dust, which, after being melted, was declared by an expert to be pure gold. He then received a larger quantity at the frontier in return for 15,000 roubles. The consignment proved to bo brass-dust. He wrote protesting and threatening exposure, and received in answer a number of letters to the effect that, as the Russian law forbade tha traffic in gold, he could not take proceedings in Russia. His correspondents even quoted a decision of a Russian court of law in a similar case, and invited their dupe to recoup himself by entering into the business as a partner, and inducing other people to buy Russian gold-dust.