Fraudsters jailed over stolen identity scams

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-37768973

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A fraudster who tried to sell his victims' £500,000 home after transferring the property deeds into his name has been jailed.

Saeed Ghani, 30, also stole a couple's details in a bid to defraud them of their £90,000 pension.

Co-defendant Atif Mahmood, 42, stole identity documents from a post box in the Stockport area in June 2012.

The pair used the details to try and sell a couple's home, Preston Crown Court heard.

Ghani, of Prestwich, Greater Manchester, was jailed for seven years and six months. Mahmood was sentenced to 26 months.

Fraudulent passports

Their plot to sell a couple's £500,000 property was only foiled when the victims' daughter noticed the family home was for sale on an internet site.

Ghani also stole the identities of two homeowners in Bolton by using fraudulent passports in a bid to transfer the Land Registry deeds of their £300,000 home.

The court heard he and another man, Toma Ramanauskaite, intercepted another couple's post in Boothstown, Salford, in August 2014.

Driving licences were taken out in their names and used as identification to open new bank accounts.

The pair then successfully transferred nearly £90,000 after contacting the victims' pension company.

Ghani admitted three counts of conspiracy to defraud, while Mahmood, of Gorton, Manchester pleaded guilty to one count of the same offence.

Ramanauskaite, 30 from Bury, will be sentenced next month after pleading guilty to the same charge.