Author: Solovieff, S.
Title: Early 20th-Century "Spanish Prisoner Scam" Letter
Description: Spain: By the author, 1912. Softcover. Autograph letter signed; 10 1/2 x 8 1/4; single sheet, recto only; lined paper, filled in brown ink; a few crease lines; several tears repaired on verso with binder's glue; overall in very good condition.A variation of the Advance Fee Fraud, the type of letter, and nowadays email, has been known throughout the centuries under various names, including the French Prisoner Letter and the Nigerian Scam. In this particular letter, dated 7/2/1912, one S. (Serge) Solovieff addresses an unnamed correspondent and introduces himself as a Russian banker, who has been arrested in London and extradited to Spain to serve a prison sentence there. He assures the recipient that, should the latter travel to Spain and pay for Serge's trial costs, he would get a suitcase with a secret pocket that has a document in it, allowing access to $480 000 that Solovieff has in the US. The recipient would get one-third of the money. If the correspondent replies, he is told that the first step after getting to Spain is to pay an associate of Solovieff $2000, so the suitcase can be released from the prison storage facility. Several almost identical letters have come to light, some of them even accompanied by fake newspaper clippings from "English newspapers," proving Serge's story. Some of them have been signed with different names. Presumably designed to take advantage of "rich Americans," it is unknown how successful the scam has been. Ill.: 0. 2.

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