The Western news., 1944-05-04
Smith Caught
With Fake
Gas Coupons

The car owners why buys or uses
gasoline coupons not rightfuIly is
sued to him through his local board
sometimes is not aware that all
such coupons come to him illegally
and that most Of such coupons are
of criminal origin, the Office of
Price Administration says.
The following case history shows
what Joe Smith learned about the
few extra" coupons he picked up
for an otherwise harmless fishing
trip. The facts are authentic ex-
cept for names and places, which
have been fictionalized to prevent
injury to innocent persons The
story:
On hidden press in small print
shop somewhere in the country, one
fateful gasoline coupon was printed
along with other counterfeit cou-
pons worth thousands of gallons of
gasoline. The coupons were then
sent to a distribution center. There
they we're divided among coupon
peddlers.
One peddler sold his coupons in
bars to bartenders, who sold them
in smaller quantities to regular
customers. John Brown bought
some at ]. LIS bar and remarked.
Il ought to be able to make few
extra dollars on these at the shop
Buys Coupons from Friend
AT the shop, Joe Smith, perfect
ly decent sort Of guy, was wish
ing he had extra gas to go fishing
And here was his friend, John
Brown, who wanted to sell few he
didn't need. What is the harm?''
he thought. The gas is there to use
and somebody might as well have
it." (Joe didn't know the coupons
were counterfeit. He didn't know
that 80 per cent of the coupons
! exchanged like this are either coun-
terfeit or stolen.)
Joe pulled into gasoline station
and used one of these coupons tc
get extra gas He didn't have the
coupon endorsed in advance, SO he
delayed the busy station operator
and then said few unpleasant
things about having to endorse il
anyway.
| The honest dealer checked the en-
dorsement to see that it was the
same as the license number of Joe's
. car. The dealer was smart and want
ed to stay out of trouble. He knew
that If he did take in counterfeit
or stolen coupons that could not bt
! traced, he would get no credit fol
them toward further gasoline pur
chases, his operating inventory
would be reduced, and he woulc
have to replace the invalid coupons
with good ones.
| Ultra Violet Srots Counterfeit
The dealer pasted Joes coupon
on the "Bingo Sheet" which he gave
to his supplier for more gas. The
supplier deposited that sheet OF ga:
coupons in his ration bank At the
bank, a clerk ran through the shee1
to see that it was properly identi
fled and the coupons endorsed
Then, an OPA investigator at thu
bank passed the 'Bingo Sheet" un
der an ultra violet ray lamp to make
sure all the coupons were legiti
mate. Hold it, he said "A coun
| terfeit.'
The endorsement on the counter
felt was checked with the Motol
Vehicle Bureau. 1t was Joe Smith.
coupon. Joe was in trouble TIL,
OPA men went to see joe H,
hadn't realized that he was robbint
honest car owners, encouraging
crime and sapping the strength 0
the war effort. He told where h,
bought the counterfeit.
/ Now John Brown was in trouble
He led the investigators to L. j
bar. Waiting there, the Investigator
trapped the peddler when he cam,
In again. Then to the distribution
center and to
! A hidden press in a small prin
shop somewhere in the country op
Grated by a gang of dope peddlers
bootleggers and other criminals.