Mar
8
2008
The following article is from Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright 2007 by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the permission of the author. Information about the newsletter is available at http://www.eogn.com.
New Zealander Kevin Anthony Osborne had a lucrative scam going. He applied to District Courts for birth certificates, sometimes ordering large amounts claiming he was conducting genealogy research. He then looked for males with birth dates near his own who had since died. He then assumed their identity, applied for admission at various universities, and then applied for student loans.
“A couple of occasions they wrote to the courts saying they were conducting a genealogy research and could they have the birth certificates for x amount of people and they were subsequently supplied with them,” says Detective Sergeant Nigel Hughes, from Christchurch police.
Today, ten years later, Osborne was sent to prison. The judge sentenced him to 14 months behind bars, ending his 10 years on the run.
“He is a low life he must have had no morals what so ever and go around cemeteries and look at gravestones,” said Ian Barker. Ian and his wife Margerate are victims of his scam… Osborne stole their son Brett’s identity in the name of greed.
You can read more about this story in the TV3 web site at http://tinyurl.com/2wan2z.
