BUYING a home is hardly an event you expect to turn into a modern-day scam in which your identity is stolen and “false” debts pile up.
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The victim arranged a home loan of more than $200,000 with a mortgage broker in April last year.
The loan was arranged through the Commonwealth Bank.
She supplied her driver’s licence, two recent pay slips and other documents.
And after that, Michelle Scanlon, who worked for the mortgage broker, made her life a misery.
It started in May when GE Finance contacted her, saying she had defaulted on a personal loan for $25,000 by missing the previous month’s payment.
When the victim said she did not have a personal loan with GE, she was transferred to the fraud section and obtained an online credit report.
It showed there were other loans she hadn’t applied for and knew nothing about, including one for $6000 with the NSW police credit union. The victim reported the matter to police on April 29.
It was found Scanlon had created documents in the victim’s name — a visa card application — and obtained credit from the police credit union office at Goulburn on May 20 last year.
Scanlon also provided an email address, four payslips, a Telstra bill, NSW driver’s licence and birth certificate in the victim’s name.
A credit card was issued four days later and Scanlon began using it on June 1.
She continued using it until May 27 this year and was only caught when a transaction was recorded on closed-circuit footage.
She bought items valued at $7444.47 over a 12-month period.
And then there was the personal loan for $25,000, taken out with GE Finance on December 13 last year to buy a Ford Focus car.
In April this year, Scanlon sought a $5000 loan with GE Finance.
Scanlon, 41, of Hillandale Court, Bonegilla, yesterday pleaded guilty in Albury Local Court to three counts of dishonestly obtaining property by deception.
A pre-sentence report has been ordered on her with sentencing adjourned to the Downing Centre, Sydney, on March 5.