Conman steals deputy mayor's identity in post

[theflyingpostman]

http://www.hemeltoday.co.uk/tring-news/ ... 3174101.jp

By Victoria West

Tring's deputy mayor became a victim of identity fraud after his post was hijacked by a conman.

Cllr Mike James has demanded an explanation from Royal Mail as to why a man was not quizzed when he filled in forms to collect the post from Tring's mail sorting office.

Bank loans amounting to thousands of pounds have been taken out in Mr James' name and his personal details were used to open a bank account.

Royal Mail has now launched an investigation into the sorting office in Western Road and is working closely with the police.

It was only by chance that Mr James, of Nathaniel Walk, Tring, discovered his post was being held back at the sorting office.

His wife Julia noticed that her husband had not received any letters and questioned their postman.

They discovered a man pretending to be Mr James had filled in a form on Saturday, August 18, to stop the post from being delivered. He then collected the mail three days later.

Mr James, who was the town's mayor in 2005, said he was shocked at how easy it was for the offender to steal his identity and is warning others to be on their guard.

He said: "The person that went into the sorting office probably isn't the main man. He is probably a front man.

"I was really upset that somebody had taken my identity. I thought it was just the post being stolen.

"Now I find I have got letters saying loans have been taken out in my name."

A loan of £9,500 was taken out with
Alliance and Leicester and another loan with the Abbey National was applied for over the internet. The cash was directed to a fraudulent bank account.

Mr James said: "People have to be so sharp these days.

"You have to be really conscious that this is going on. Huge sums of money are being stolen without people even knowing about it.

"People need to be so security conscious. It is just something I didn't realise was so commonplace. When it happens to you, you feel really upset and hurt."

A spokesman for Royal Mail said: "I can confirm there is currently an investigation taking place and we are working closely with the police on this.

"We cannot therefore say too much.

"The security of our customers' mail is a key priority. We are extremely concerned at the apparent misuse of our services in this instance and we are currently assisting the police with their enquiries."
Last Updated: 05 September 2007 9:39 AM

[Spedley]

I think that there is a big problem with the banks if you can read a couple of random letters and get a several loans based on that in the space of a few days.

EDIT: on closer inspection, it appears that a loan from Allience and Leicester is more easily obtained using just your bank details, infact they would not have needed to stop his mail and would have been far more successful if they had just stolen a bank statement from his bin.