Buy-to-let fraud hits thousands

The Sunday Times
December 21, 2008

David Leppard

Detectives are investigating one of Britain’s biggest buy-to-let schemes in which large numbers of investors have seen their savings wiped out.

They fear thousands of people who sought to cash in on the buy-to-let dream during the boom years of 2004 to 2007 may turn out to have been victims of organised fraud.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is investigating alleged scams that have cost government-owned banks such as Northern Rock, Royal Bank of Scotland and Bradford & Bingley millions of pounds on loans that should never have been made.

Senior police officers said the full scale of the buy-to-let scandal was only beginning to emerge in the wake of the credit crunch and the collapse of house prices.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/property_and_mortgages/article5375652.ece