Electoral roll requests spark fraud gang hunt

POLICE believe they have uncovered a major UK-wide fraud operation that is attempting to create dozens of false identities to steal from banks.

Electoral Roll Officers (ERO) alerted police after noticing at least 50 suspicious applications for inclusion on the voters’ list made in June and July in Scotland.

In many cases the addresses given were businesses, which had never heard of the applicant. Official electoral roll documents are often used as proof of identity in financial transactions.

Police are investigating and letters sent as part of the application process have been sent away for forensic tests. Postage stamps indicate it may be the work of a criminal gang operating in the south of England.

It is understood that false claims have also been made in England and Wales.

Detective Inspector Jim Gilchrist, of Lothian and Borders, who was nominated to investigate by the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (Acpos), said he would share intelligence with the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau once a clear picture has emerged.

He added: “Across Scotland there have been a number of fraudulent attempts to get on the electoral roll and there is a similar situation in England. I think we’ve had about 50 across Scotland, including most forces such as Northern Constabulary, where there have been two. Strathclyde has had 23 and there have been around 20 here in Lothian and Borders.

“These are applications which have been picked up by local officers and queried because something about them does not stack up. What we tend to see is business addresses being used to register. “We believe the true motive lies away from electoral fraud and is actually to do with identity theft, a system of building previous addresses.

It could be a fraud that takes place two years down the line.”

The Scottish Crime and Drugs Enforcement Agency (SCDEA) has asked Scottish business owners to be alert for information about applications to the electoral roll sent to their addresses.

In a statement, the SCDEA said: “In July 2011 it became apparent to the ERO that they were in receipt of a number of suspicious registration applications for names to be included on the electoral registers.

“Applications have been made using business addresses, and it is suspected that the purpose of false electoral registration is to commit fraud.

“Should you receive anything resembling papers from the Electoral Commission to your business premises which you have not applied for, please contact your local police.”

Identity theft has become a growing concern among Scots, despite incidents still being quite rare compared to other types of crime.

In a survey last year, 12 per cent said it was the crime they thought most likely to happen to them. Police have become so wary about the growing complexity of fraud that last year they began training specialist investigators to tackle the emerging threat of mortgage scams, identity theft and online crime.

However, police say the type of identity theft uncovered by the Electoral Commission is a threat to banks and building societies rather than the general public.