Every well-equipped fraudulent concern acquires the names and
addresses of susceptible persons. Painstaking revisions of the
lists made up of these names and addresses form an important part
of the labor of the principals or employes. The lists grow as each
advertisement brings inquiries from persons who, either through
curiosity or desire to invest, write for particulars. Affiliated
swindles operated in succession by a gang of "fakers" use the same
list of "suckers."
In affiliated swindles if the "sucker" does not succumb and remit
his money on the inducements offered by one concern, his name is
transferred to the lists of another, and he is then bombarded with
different literature. Thus a man must pass through the ordeal of
having dozens of tempting offers made him before he demonstrates that
he is not a "sucker," or has not got the money. His name is then
stricken from the list.
There are so many "get-rich-quick" operators at present that
competition between them has become strenuous. They are now infesting
the entire country with local solicitors, who frequent saloons,
hotels, and even residence districts, where victims are found in
foreigners, ignorant servant girls and inexperienced widows.
These solicitors get 50 per cent commission on all sales of stock.
This fact in itself is evidence that the propositions are rank
swindles. When the swindling operator finds things getting too hot he
disappears from his office and bobs up in some new place with a new
proposition.