A £1.5m fraud has been stopped dead in its tracks and the perpetrators are now awaiting sentence after bridging lender Masthaven alerted authorities of a suspicious application.
The suspects, still unidentified, claimed to own a £5m property in Bayswater in London and attempted to secure a £1.5m bridging loan against it.
Masthaven underwriters became suspicious of the application when they liaised with utility companies for proof of address.
The lender then contacted the City of London police and discovered that the passport number used for identification verification was of a deceased nine year-old boy and the photos in the passport were replaced.
The police then held a sting operation with the aid of Masthaven and its managing director Andrew Bloom.
Tags: bridging loans