Fraudsters in property theft case

December 22nd, 2005

A Horsham landlord has become the victim of a daring case of identity theft, it has been revealed.

Teacher Grahame Hawthorn not only had his identity stolen but also nearly lost his home after a thief managed to remortgage the property for over £200,000 before scarpering with the cash.

Nothing was known about the theft until a repossession order was found nailed to the front door of the property.

“It was an absolute shock,” Mr Hawthorn’s brother told The Argus.

“The fraudster had done his research. He knew Grahame was overseas and that there was no mortgage on the property.”

Posing as a tenant and calling himself Andrew Manning, the fraudster had paid six months of rent in advance for the property, which Mr Hawthorn was letting while overseas. The fictional Mr Manning then collected bills from the house which he later used to steal Mr Hawthorn’s identity.

Although the property has now been handed back to its rightful owner, financial services firm GMAC said that Mr Hawthorn had found himself the victim of “a very sophisticated and isolated instance of identity fraud”.

This comes after high street and online banking facilities are taking increasing measures to protect their customers against cases of identity fraud.

Competitive, online bank accounts…apply here!

Entry Filed under: Mortgages, Finance Info