The Stockbroker’s Clerk by Arthur Conan Doyle

A recently employed clerk seeks Holmes’s help after being lured into a suspicious job offer that requires him to move and isolate himself. Holmes uncovers a plot by criminals to impersonate the man and gain access to financial secrets. The plot features classic elements of bait-and-switch, false identity, and cunning exploitation. Holmes unravels it with ease, though too late to catch the perpetrators. It’s a cautionary tale about deception masked as opportunity.