JF Ptak Science Books  Quick Post

Electronic racketeering has been around for as long as people have been able to use electrons.  A Wild West opportunity has always been possible for those seeking to exploit a hope or naivete or sorrow that is amplified or caressed by a new electrical advance in communication etc., so the Nigerian Prince Money Laundering Scheme is new in name only–the practice in general has been around for a long time. (Among the earliest uses of the telegraph was to perpetrate insurance frauds, for example.)

Ted Salmon writes about telephone abuses from his chair at 1200 South Lake Street in L.A. in 1937–I am certain that there must be other earlier works on these frauds, but this is the one I have on hand.  Mr. Salmon promises “An Authentic Expose of all Telephone Rackets” in the sub title, and he seems to give it a good effort in the little pamphlet’s slim (and unnumbered) 28 pages.  Mostly, though, I’m posting this because of the excellent cover design.