They approached Masthaven Bridging Finance for a bridging loan of £1.5m on a property in West London with a value of £5m. This seemed like an unbelievable deal; and in the end it was.
As part of Masthaven’s underwriting policy when the loan amount is over a certain figure we ask to meet the clients in person. As soon as the fraudsters were made aware of this, after 48hours mysteriously the loan amount was reduced to £925,000.
The Managing Director of Masthaven, Andrew Bloom, still considered the loan to be a high amount and insisted on a meeting. The underwriters continued to process the application with trepidation.
The underwriting team soon received the borrowers ID, utility bills & photocopies of the borrower’s passports. Going through the ID which had been stamped and certified by the client’s solicitors is when the problems started. Details on the utility bills were incorrect up and sections were missing from the passports. The underwriters began to question the authenticity of the documents.
Underwriters called the utility companies querying whether the details on the bills all matched up. They didn’t. In some cases the account number given didn’t even exist. This was not looking good and Andrew Bloom was meeting the borrowers at the security address that afternoon.
Andrew Bloom decided that the meeting should still go ahead especially as the client’s broker was travelling down from Manchester on request from the clients to be at the meeting, and also as the clients were requested to bring ID.
Fifteen minutes before the meeting was scheduled to take place the clients cancelled.
The Police were called. They were give copies of the ID and confirmed that the utility bills were in fact fraudulent and that one of the passports belonged to an 11 year old boy.
Neither the broker nor the borrowers were aware of this information or that the police had been called.
The Police decided that in order to arrest the borrowers, Masthaven was to arrange another meeting but this time at our office in The City. It would be a more secure and private location and make it easier for the police to arrest the fraudsters.
After waiting for over an hour, yet again, the clients did not show up but instead sent a stooge to hand in the signed offer letter at the building reception.
Andrew Bloom called the broker informing him that until he had met with the clients, Masthaven was not able to complete on the loan. This was all a ploy to encourage the fraudsters to rearrange and actually turn up to the meeting where the police would be waiting to arrest them.
After many confrontational calls with the borrowers, Andrew managed to get another meeting scheduled but this time at the Marriott Hotel in Marble Arch. This was the make or break for all, the borrowers, Masthaven and the Police.
On the afternoon of the meeting, Andrew Bloom met with the DC on the case before the scheduled meeting who would later attend the meeting with Andrew Bloom posing as his assistant.
The DC informed him that there were several undercover police officers positioned in and around the hotel. The clients were waiting in the bar, all the police needed was that they confirm they were who they said they were. The clients did this and were publicly arrested.
Three Asian men were arrested. Two have been remanded and refused bail whilst one has been given bail but with very strict conditions.
