The New York herald., 1922-02-10
BUCKET SHOP GETS VICTIM
EASILY BY LURE OF PROFITS

nave fortunately maze great zeal OF
money has given us your name, &C.
We have utmost faith in his judgment
of the class of people we can afford
to do business for. &c. If you would
be interested when we have an ex-
ceptionally good stock will you kindly
let us know?"
Out of the flood OF letters comes a
surprising number Of replies from per-
sons interested" What happens?
A producer" is on one OF the back
room telephones before the reply has
been in the office an hour I'VE have
just received your letter and you are
in great luck. Unexpectedly this morn
ing our big customers are about to
swing big deal. Thought you would
like to get in on it, &c. Who gave us
your name? Well. now. suppose we
had made a lot Of money for you and
you gave us a friends name, would 1t
be fair to give away your confidence?'
And so on.
The bucketeer figures that landing
three out Of ten of those thus Inter
ested" is "a low average. And If the
prospect lives out of town the magic
Of New York is calling you on che
wire" is regarded as even more COM
pelling. and frequently, before he real
ICES it, the out of town man is talking
about my New York broker" when
he couldn't tell you thing from his
own knowledge about the character OF
his ''broker" if his life depended on it
Exchange Member Gets Share.
Mr. Sucker buys, say, 100 shares OF
XYZ stock on margin, for which he
sends along also the brokers' commits
sion. What happens? Mr.. Bucketeer
Immediately buys the XYZ stock
through some member of a recognized
exchange and passes along to the ex-
change member the brokers' commits
sion, leaving for himself absolutely not
penny of legitimate profit on a legiti-
m1te transaction. That isn't what he
wants. He merely wants the conf1rma
ton of execution to send to his sucker
He Immediately sells the stock he has
bought without the knowledge Of Mr.
Sucker.
1t doesn't seem possible that through
so simple a process as that any sane
person could be persuaded to part
with money. but it happens every
day. Flattery and the bucketeers
knowledge of the inherent greed OF
human nature is the key.
Having got Mr.. Sucker to this stage
the game takes any number d turns
Mr.. Sucker may receive three or four
checks for his profits, and then comes
a sudden backset and a big demand
for margin with assurances that
everything will be all right.
Well, Mr.. Suckers "broker" made
money for him before. why not again ?
A man can't win all the time. The
additional margin comes through and
the next day the young man on the
telephone reports that he is sorry
everything didn't go according to
Hoyle and he lost again and has only
a small credit balance left-but, "I saw
chance for a quick profit and took
the liberty Of buying for you, with the
result that I've built up your balance
almost covering your losses. Tell you
what you do. just authorize me--drop
me line authorizing me to act for
you whenever l see good chance"
Confidence is restored, and the Zine"
Of authorization in dropped" Nothing
happens for week. Then another
telephone call. Biggest thing IN years.
All our best customers are getting in
on it. Send us all you can spare and
make killing along with the rest of
us. How much? Oh, get more than
that. Borrow on your Liberty bonds
get money any way you can"
Done over Suckers Signature.
Along comes the money. Then,
somehow glibly explained, the deal
didn't go off as expected, "but your
moneys here and everything will go
through in day or So" The next
thing Mr.. Sucker knows his brokers'"
judgment has had bad half hour, and
acting on authority over Mr.. Suckers
own signature, his whole credit is
wiped out.
Mr.. Sucker makes a personal in
vestigation; he. calls on the District
Attorney, and demands and threatens,
but nothing happens. because every
thing has been strictly within the let
ter Of the law according to every
record Of the entire transaction.
If the sucker is a little one the pro-
cess OF Cleaning is short ana TO the
point. He Is sold OUT for lack of
margin in Jig time.
Even the formality Of a letter in get
ting business is dispensed with fire.
quently. The staff of producers" sim
ply take a telephone list and go right
through over the telephone "by way Of