An Example of an Identity Theft Case

An example of an identity theft case in which the fraudster obtained and used a genuine passport bysearching headstones for a deceased infant would be that of 'Lord Christopher Buckingham'.

The man involved, Charles Albert Stopford III, was sentenced to 21 months in prison in November 2005. He was arrested entering the UK by ferry in Dover in January 2005. He refuses to reveal his true name, but police believe that they have used fingerprint technology to successfully identify him.

Amazingly, he was on the run from authorities in the United States and had been using this assumed identity for over 20 years. Even his wife and two children were unaware of his real identity.

The real Christopher Edward Buckingham died as an infant in London.

As you may imagine, an identity theft case such as this is quite rare. For a long time, police had no idea as to whom this man really was. His title, 'Lord' was however fraudulent and it seems that this was a part of the reason he was spotted.

Since an identity theft case such as this is so rare, they do tend to attract quite a lot of publicity.

In January 2006 his sentence was reduced to 9 months on appeal. The judges concluded that he had not been a danger to the public and appeared to have committed no other crimes. Three judges sitting at the Court of Appeal ruled that the sentence was 'far too long'.

Click here to learn about the basic identity theft scams