Indian-origin man gets 2 yrs in jail for identity theft

An Indian-origin man has been jailed for two years by a UK court for stealing identities of two persons to swindle almost 60,000 pounds from banks and a building society.

An Indian-origin man has been jailed for two years by a UK court for stealing identities of two persons to swindle almost 60,000 pounds from banks and a building society.

Sunmuk Patel, 39, convinced Coventry Building Society to give him a mortgage extension totalling 40,000 pound while posing as the husband of the woman with whom he was having an affair, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

He also used a doctor’s credit card to withdraw 2,000, online daily expressandstar.com reported.

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Patel also tried to convince Barclays Bank Square to give him a 15,00 pound loan in the name of one of the victims identified as Mr Singh but was arrested after a worker became suspicious.

A few months later, Patel phoned Coventry Building Society again pretending to be Singh and asked for money for an extension to the house, the prosecution said.

A total of 20,000 was transferred to Mr Singh’s account which his wife Rita Chohan, said to be Patel’s mistress, withdrew, it was alleged.

She was said to have done the same after the bank transferred a further 20,000 pound.