Carbon copy swindle
Some poor man I see has been sentenced for stealing from his employers because he alleged he was being blackmailed by fraudu- lent carbon paper salesmen. The carbon paper swindle, for it is nothing else, works by an interesting sleight of arithmetic according to a small businessman friend whose secretary was caught.
Two personable operators, or salesmen as they prefer to be known, called during the lunch hour and on hearing that her employer was out asked her if she would try some of their carbon paper in her typewriter. They asked if it was as good as the paper she al- ready used—which it was, being of excellent quality. She demurred to their inevitable request for an order, denying she had no authority and that she had anyway an ample stock. On this, it was suggested that they should send her a few sample packs for the other two girls in her office to try, but as a formality they asked if she would initial an 'indent' on their company. The pre-printed order. for it was nothing less, read in small type 'Six cartons of 10.000 sheets of xxx CAR- BON PAPER at 40s per 100' per pack. A week later a parcel came, no more than about two feet square, but unfortunately overlooked to the extent of being left unopened. Much later an invoice for something like £1,200 was received by their accounts department with the words 'account overdue'. Protests to the carbon paper company (operating from a bedsitting room in Baron's Court, it turned out) were ignored, a writ was received from a firm of solicitors and only after a pro- tracted legal squabble was the wretched mess cleared up.
Now he takes his secretary to lunch—as an economy.
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