Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1936-01-26


that It Is against the law for them
to buy sweeps tickets or to accept
the winnings. The Post once in
spectors and the customs people, how
ever, conf1scate hundreds Of sweeps
tickets each year. They are so used
to the appearance Of the envelopes
containing the tickets and to the
mailing addresses now that 1t takes
only q brief glance. Then the de-
partment stamps the suspected let
tiers Believed to Contain Prohibited
Matter" or Believed to Contain Mat
ter Subject to Duty"
When such q letter reaches the
post Office in the city to which it is
addressed. the postmaster calls up
the addressee and invites him or her
to the post Office for formal opening
of the mail. If it does contain the
tickets they are seized; If 1t doesn't
the postmaster Apologies.
But the postal inspectors don't
spend too much time on real lot
teries-they have enough to do with
the hundreds of fake lotteries ioisted
on the eager o-be-fooled, would-be
gamblers.
lust this October the Post Office
-" inspectors obtained the conviction
of nine persons who had printed and
sold $26.OO0,00O worth of worthless
lottery tickets-counterfeit tickets to
every race run practically anywhere.
In spite Of three past convictions and
the inspectors evidence, the ring
leader got off with a suspended SEN
tence. so the department expects to
pick him up again soon somewhere
under some name.
One of the frauds is listed by the
department simply as dogs It
seems that some ingenious gentlemen
have a very profitable scheme Of adj
vertising in the sportsmen magazines.
read principally by the wealthy, that
they have q blooded coon dog. or rab-
bit dog, or bird dog, or even fox
hound, for sale at reasonable price.
The dog will be mailed upon receipt
OF portion of the purchase price and
the rest shall be paid on delivery.
An eager sportsman, just aching
to 60 coon hunting, sends the down
payment. The dog man sends dog
either from the local dog pound. a
back alley or rifled back yard. The
cur arrives. with something of hang
dog expression. The gentleman Is
furious and says so by mail. The dog
man is injured. why, the sportsman
mustn't be sportsman at ALL" he
indicates by return mail. He OBJ
viously doesn't know how to handle
a coon dog" And that goes on for
while, until the log mar has too
many warm protests and moves on to
a new address and new name. The
king of dog men had 81 fraud ordres
against him.
WHEN the inspectors get sufficient
w evidence against any Of the
frauds they have two methods OF
procedure. If the racket is still OPP
Grating the department Immediately
issues fraud order, which prevents
delivery of any mail to the racketeers.
thus abruptly stopping their profits,
at least at that address and under
their present names. But when the
organization has apparently stopped
operating for a time the department
brings suit in Federal Court.
Ninety-nine out of a hundred Of its
fraud cases are instituted on COM
plant of victims. The department is
too busy to initiate much on its own
hook. The procedure for complaint
is simple. You just send the an
noying letters and literature which
you received in to the chief Post
Office inspector. The information Is
passed on to the inspector in the
field nearest the persons committing
the frauds If fraud order is
issued, that's all there Is to it, but
If the case goes to court you may be
asked to appear and testify for the
Government.
A few years ago the department
lear.1eL a., the result of Nation wide
investigation. that, in addition to its
losses from thefts of stamps, it was
losing 100000 a year through the
fraudulent reuse of used stamps. It
isn't so easy to cheat Uncle Sam now.
but some favorite stamps rackets are
still prActiced.
Mr.. A. wanting to get money easily
and illegally, buys used stamps where
ever he can get them. often from
waste paper dealers. Needless to say.
he gets them very cheaply. He knows
an. uses a chemical formula which
remove the cancellations without
harmine the stamps. Then he sells
the now uncanceled stamps either
himself or through stamp fence. ="
oftel to shipping clerks Of big mer-
camille houses. These purchasers buy
500 w.rth at cut rate. which Is
still pretty good profit for Mr.. A..
Ane. tn difference between the cut
rate anu the $l00 handed out for ex-
penses Is a swell bonus for the shipping
clerk.
Sometimes this racket Is varied by
shipping the Cancelled stamps to
friends IN Germany, France, Holland
or Hungary, where the handling of
such stsmps or even counterfeit kmer-
lean stamps Is perfectly legal. When
the ca .cellations have been removed.
the stamps are brought back, mailed
back or sometimes sent by trans-At-
lantic steamboat crew members lor
resale here. Post Office inspectors
visited all those countries in a famous
wash-stamp case. but didn't discover
the chemical formula.
BUSINESS firms making many large
- parcel post shipments are granted
a precancellation permit by the Gov
eminent under which they buy stamps
already Cancelled in particular FASH
ion. Their packages carrying such
stamps then 60 through the post Office
without again being defaced, saving
time on the shipments and also time
Of postal clerks. Unfortunately, some
branch Offices send the stamps back
to the main Offices and they are used
again. This racket was responsible for
about IS per cent Of that $4,000, 900