Swindler stole IDs of dead

The crimes of a failed law student who stole the names of five dead people to claim welfare payments were uncovered after a public servant saw her dead son's name on a benefit claim.

In the Auckland District Court yesterday, Lance Jared Thompson, a 30-year-old student of Swanson, was jailed for 39 months after admitting 63 charges including fraud and breaches of the insolvency and company legislation.

The fraud gained him nearly $99,000.

His aliases came to light when a Birkenhead Work and Income officer found her dead son's name and birthdate on an unemployment benefit claim.

Jacqueline Lethbridge, prosecuting for the Ministry of Social Development, told Judge Robert Kerr that Thompson claimed 12 different benefits, including unemployment and accommodation supplement, in his own name and the names of five other people over three years.

Judge Kerr said it was understood that all five aliases were the identities of dead people.

Ms Lethbridge said Thompson obtained the aliases by scanning Births, Deaths and Marriages microfiches for likely names. He then manufactured the assumed identities by obtaining driver's licences, IRD numbers and bank accounts in the dead people's names.

 

Ms Lethbridge said he had caused distress to the families whose loved ones' identities he used.

Judge Kerr said that was particularly true for the Work and Income officer whose son's name was used in a benefit claim.

Ms Lethbridge said the money went into failed business ventures.

Thompson's lawyer, Mike Lloyd, said that his client was not motivated by greed and did not lead a lavish lifestyle. The money was used to support his former wife and three children and for his studies.

Thompson, an undischarged bankrupt, set up companies which lost investors and consultants around $40,000. Mr Lloyd said his client had not set out to fleece them but was merely inept.