Fraudster faked £1m account to rent Kingswinford house
Everyone dreams of becoming a millionaire, but one desperate house-hunter thought it was as easy as changing her bank records.
Bethany Pole forged her statement in a bid to convince estate agents she had £1 million in the bank when her rent cheque bounced.
The 22-year-old's ruse was discovered and she pleaded guilty to making a fake bank statement at Wolverhampton Crown Court yesterday.
Pole's con led to the owners of the property having their house repossessed by the bank as they could not keep up with mortgage payments.
She had gone into an estate agents and said she wished to buy the house in Moss Grove, Kingswinford in August 2012.
The court heard that Pole had agreed to rent the property at £900 per month before the sale had been completed.
But when a cheque bounced, she was quizzed by the estate agents and Pole, from Old High Street, Quarry Bank, provided a print-off of her bank balance that claimed she had more than £1 million in her bank.
A semi-detached house in Moss Grove can fetch more than £250,000, but the average price of properties on the road is £184,000.
Mr Edward Soulsby told the court: "This is a strange case.
"There was no written arrangement about the defendant renting the property but a chain of emails clearly showed an agreement was in place.
"Her cheque had bounced and the sale of the property had slowed down.
"She was asked by the estate agents if she could provide proof of her bank allowance.
"She provided a print out from an HSBC account that showed that she had over £1 million in her account.
"The estate agents were not satisfied and when they contacted the bank they discovered this was not the amount."
It was also discovered that items from the house had been taken including £8,000 of flooring which had been ripped up.
Mr Soulsby added: "She had been in the property from August until October 2012.
"The latest information is as a result of this the victims were not able to make payments for their mortgage and the house was repossessed by the bank."
Pole pleaded guilty to a charge of fraud by representation and making an article for use of fraud.
Her barrister Mr Rupert Jones had requested that she was sentenced at the hearing but Judge Martin Walsh deferred a decision until a report was prepared by the probation service.
She will appear back at the crown court for sentencing on March 18.
