Morning journal and courier., 1882-05-10
Wednesday Morning, May 10, 1882.
sWINDLING CLAIM AGENTS.

SWINDLING CLAIM AGENTS.
 It might be thought that the repeated ex-
 posures of the tricks of those who seek to in-
 duce credulous people in this country to be-
 lieve that they are entitled to vast estates in
 England, Scotland, Ireland or other coun-
 tries, would hurt the business, but it seems
 to flourish. A number of ''claim agents" in
 England are said to be growing rich on con-
 tributions from this country. Their mode of
 operation is to cut out every advertisement
 published in the English or other papers in
 relation to unclaimed property, and then If
 they find person of the same name living in
 this country they write to him saying that
 they have reason to believe that he has a
 claim on certain estate, and that if he will
 remit, say $2 or S3, they will send further .paztieulars- Two dollars mot -Hasehyeven- If nothing comes of it, and as rule the bait
 is swallowed and the money sent. In return
 the sender receives copy of the advertise
 ment, with the notice that if he thinks it
 worth while to have a copy of the will and
 other particulars, further remittance of $5
 or $10 will be necessary. And so on until
 the agent" has got all. his victim will give.
 The performances of these agents are at
 tracting attention in England just now, and
 one of them has lately been prosecuted for
 swindling One of his clients was told that
 property worth e17 1000, 900 in Scotland was coming to her. He represented to another that there was e620, ,OOO in Chancery for him and his relatives He had prepared what he termed ian authentic list ot heirs, next of kin and persons advertised for" It is pamphlet of some fifty or sixty pages, neatly bound in blue cloth, with preface setting forth that the amount of property left by persons dying intestate or without any direct issue exceeds e2O0, ,0OO, OOO The compiler then proceeds as follows: 1.-The nominal charge made by me does not in any way rec ompense me for the trouble and outlay in preparing and proving claimants titles, but it is to my ultimate success in obtaining property for parties entitled that look for my remuneration, that remuneration being rate of commission to be agreed upon be- tween the parties and myself, and to be paid after the property has been recovered. AL though do not for moment venture to at tempt impossibilitieS, I will give my best Gt- tention to any tangible and genuine matter in trusted to my supert ision, and acting in concert with many gentlemen of great expe- rience and high standing, both in England and abroad, and having correspondents in the chief cities in Australia and America, am in position to obtain reliable information | speedily and at small cost, my custom being | to require payment for disbursements only | in case of non-success. I am continually re- ! ceiving particulars of other unclaimed prop erty besides that enumerated in my index" etc., etc.
 Even if these claim agents get upon the | track of genuine claimant, they cannot do | anything for him without the aid of regu- lar solicitor in Chancery. A regulation of l the Court of Chancery says ''No informa | ioH is to be given by the Chancery paymas- ter respecting money or securities to the | credit of any cause, matter or account in I this list until he has been furnished with l statement in writing by solicitor requiring | such information of the names of the person | in whose behalf he applies, and that in such | solicitors opinion the applicant is beneficial ly interested in such money or securities"
 The 'pleasure of being eheated' is so great | that such exposures as that mentioned above | will probably not interfere seriously with the business of the claim agents. The hope of share in an estate valued at ten, twenty, l thirty or fifty millions is a fascinating one, and the claim agents know how to use it.