Dodgy debt cases soaring says anti-fraud company

By Laura Noonan

Irish Independent

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

THE number of fraudulent debts pursued in the courts has surged dramatically in the first three months of the year, new figures revealed yesterday.

And the Irish Fraud Bureau (IFB) warned that lenders here continue to be an "easy target" for fraudulent borrowers because they are not allowed to verify their customers' addresses against the electoral register.

The comments came as IFB operator BusinessPro confirmed it had discovered 50 clusters of 'red alert' judgments in the first three months of the year.

The red alerts are triggered when several judgments are listed against an individual who is described as living at several addresses on the same street.

BusinessPro says that giving different addresses on the same street is a "common approach" to deceiving lenders.

IFB boss Greg Connell said: "By not allowing the Irish Electoral Register to be used for fraud prevention purposes, Ireland has become an easy target for these types of fraudsters."