An Example of Mail Fraud in 19th Century Samoa

Mail fraud, the purchasing of items via mail order without paying for them, is a common mode of operation of modern day small time crooks. As a 21st century legal problem it is particularly associated with e-commerce.[1] It is not new however. Trawling through the pages of nineteenth century newspapers published in Apia, Samoa (South Pacific) in the course of research on various aspects of Samoan history,[2] brought to light an example of Alexander Pritchard, a European trader living in Samoa, defrauding the wine wholesaler Edward Patrick Fallon of Albury, NSW, Australia.