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Gervais hit by £200,000 fraud crimes

Published on 2 Dec 2009 under category: legal

Ricky Gervais has revealed that he was the victim of a major identity fraud.

The comedian had more than £200,000 taken from his bank account during the scam.

Fraudsters then used the cash to buy gold bullion.

However, the perpetrators were foiled as they had used a picture of the star which was taken from a DVD copy of his sitcom The Office in order to verify their identification.

Gervais explained that the police had informed him that fraudsters normally use a dead person's passport and replace the details.

But, he revealed that in this instance, the criminals did not take this route.

He said: "All they did was cut out the picture on the first series of The Office DVD. So it's a picture of David Brent sitting at a desk with that little smug look on his face."

The news comes shortly after CIFAS - the UK's fraud prevention body - warned the public about identity fraud crimes.

If you require advice on Corporate Fraud please call us on +44 (0)20 7831 0101 and ask for Dan Hyde.