A fake agent who made thousands from letting out rooms that didn’t exist has been arrested - a month after being jailed in his absence.
It has been reported by TalkRADIO that James Bennett failed to turn up at court last month to face 17 counts of fraudulently letting rooms via the Spareroom website.
He was found guilty in his absence and jailed for six years.
Now he is reported to have actually been arrested in London and has been given an additional one month in prison for his failure to attend the original hearing.
The station says that between late 2015 and December 2016, Bennett created fictional listings on Spareroom for rooms to let four separate properties in Brixton, Walworth, Elephant & Castle and Tooting - all in south London.
Bennett is reported to have obtained more than £10,000 by conning prospective tenants out of 17 deposits, worth up to £725 each.
He did not use a false identify and gave tenancy agreements bearing his name to each victim. He also provided copies of his passport and other documents to prove his identity in order to persuade victims that he was genuine.
Many of the victims only found they had been defrauded when they turned up on the agreed day to move in, with one having to spend Christmas 2015 in a hostel.
You can see the full story here.
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