Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-08-15

Following a considerable experience
in seeking to prevent fraudulent use
of the United States mails, the Post
! Office Department has acquired a new
| scheme to add TO it's forbidden list.
| This is the case of a promoter who
was charging people 81 each for adj
vising them not to be the victims Of
any other fraudulent proposition.
While the scheme, which has been
made the subject of a recent fraud
order, had other ramifpations, it con-
sisted in substance Of a plan whereby
| the victim sent in a dollar for advice,
and the advice was Don't be a
| sucker"
! Postal inspectors, with a sense of
humor have insinuated that perhaps
| this advice would be worth dollar If
people would take 1t, but the scheme
of which it was q part was such that
| the postal authorities decided to close
| down on the promoter and bar his
literature from the mails.
| This particular scheme was known
as the Workers Exchange and oper-
ated out of Cincinnati. 1t is one of a
! long list of propositions which adver-
| tise about home work for people de-
string to earn money In their spare
time. The postal authorities have ex-
amined quite few such proposals,
and stopped some Of them. They do
| not pretend to say that there are no
| legitimate offers by which people can
earn money at home in their spare
I time. but the experience Of the Gov
eminent authorities, at least, indicates
that any persons contemplating spare
| time work at home had better lnVes-
tigate quite fully what they are going
| into.
J The Workers Exchange operated
! by a man named Egolf at Cincinnati
differed from other part -time.work kat
home proposals in that Egolf did not
offer work for the home worker. He
| offered advice. His first advertise
ments asked ladies interested in part
time work at home to write to him.
| When they did so, he replied telling
them that many part-time home work
advertisements were frauds, and in
ferring that the Workers Exchange
| was the one safe way to avoid tnese
frauds. 1t would advise its members
which were the good homework propo'
sitions and which were the bad ones.
Membership was offered at IL, with
some useful articles thrown in.
How the Scheme Worked.
Postal inspectors followed this up
and found that Egolf's advice fur
nished for the dollar was to the erect
that any advertisement offering part
time employment in your own nome
should be viewed with suspicion, I'M
less 1t was from g. firm located in
YOUR own home town, where you
could call in person and check up
on it, The postal inspectors, after a
Hong experience checking up these
homework offers. cannot quarrel very
seriously with Egolfs warning Of eau
ton. Egolf sent more than advice
| to his 81 members, however he
sent them each Is envelopes and lit
erature about the Workers Exchange.
which they were asked to send to
Il other persons interested in part
time work at home. If and when
any of the Is sent in a dollar to join
the Workers Exchange the original
member who had mailed out the cir
culars was to get Is cents commission.
This started a sort Of endless chain
membership, which Solicitor Fl. j.
,Dcnnelly of the Post Office Depart
ment suspects was bringing in quite
a few dollars to the promoter In
the fraud order recommendation, Mr..
Donnelly sets forth that widows, or
tphans, fnvalids and other credulous
persons were probably deceived by the
plan, and he does not regard the
fact that cheap fountain pens or other
articles were sent to the subscribers
was enough to compensate for the
fraud involved. Hence Egolf is barred
from further use of the mails to warn
the public against other people who
misuse the mails for part-time-werk
home schemes.
The number of these schemes has
multiplied in recent years and the
Post ONCE Department has constant
Job trying to segregate legitimate of
fers from fraudulent ones. The
fraudulent offers usually make their
appearance as simple advertisements
usually in the classified columns. OF
fering home work to those desiring
to make a little extra cash.
The victim who answers a fraudu
lent advertisement of this sort usually
gets a reply which says that the
work to be done is the addressing
of circulars. In order to qualify fol
this opportunity of easy home work
the prospect must join a club. OF
buy a fountain pen. or put up de
post Sometimes the bait is in the
form of needlework to be done al
home, and the prospect is asked tc
remit for a piece of stamped liner
OF which she may demonstrate hel
ability. These are but few Of the
DEVICES involved. The one thing which