12:17 pm, December 24, 2020
Hampshire police are appealing for anyone who recognises this woman to get in touch after it emerged that the Range Rover she’s pictured with was bought on finance with false details.
The Range Rover Sport – worth an estimated £40,000 – was bought from a car dealership in Bridge Road, Fareham, on November 4 using someone else’s personal information.
The victim only found out their details had been stolen when the finance paperwork arrived in the post.
Now police are urging anyone who knows the woman to contact them.
However, it has raised questions within the motor trade about how it was able to happen.
Nona Bowkis, legal adviser at Lawgistics, commented: ‘Unfortunately, we do see cases like this land on our desks to untangle.
‘We have seen cases where an employee facilitated such a fraud but that is rare, and the most likely scenario here is that a person has faked a driving licence to match the ID of the person whose identity and details they are fraudulently using.’
The Finance and Leasing Association (FLA) said that although it couldn’t be sure of the reasoning behind the photo, it had discussed how pictures taken at handovers can be used as an anti-fraud measure.
Andrea Kinnear, head of communications at the FLA, said: ‘The industry works together to share information on these incidents and learn from them – a vitally important approach when trying to combat impersonation fraud.
‘One of the recent anti-fraud measures we’ve been discussing is the need for dealerships to take photos at the point when the car is handed over.’
Hampshire Constabulary said on its website: ‘We want to speak to the woman pictured, and are asking anyone who knows her to contact us.
‘She may live outside of the Hampshire area, so we are asking people to share this with any friends or family out of county.’
Anyone with information should contact the police on 101, quoting 44200449096, or they can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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