I read a very disturbing news article this morning about a tenant who repeatedly stole the identities of the property owners from whom she rented homes. Using fake documents, she secured rental agreements on a number of different properties and in the guise of the actual property owner she then went on to apply for loans from financial institutions.
The woman in question was a financial advisor by trade, so she obviously had inside knowledge as to how the system worked, but even so, it almost defies belief that she managed to defraud banks and building societies to the tune of more than £500,000—although she attempted to con almost £3 million in total!
In a plot worthy of an episode of the television drama, Hustle, the con woman even dressed up as the property owner in a bid to persuade the bank that she was the actual home owner, and since one victim was a 67 year old woman and the con artist was only 33, it was a pretty tall order. However, eventually she got caught out and was arrested at a bank in Harrogate before she managed to acquire any more “home improvement loans”. She has since been jailed for five years as a result of her crimes.
Thankfully, something like this has never happened to me, and I sincerely hope it never does, but it just goes to show that no matter how careful you are when you vet prospective tenants, sometimes things can and do go wrong.
