Driving test fraud soars..........
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http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0
Unskilled drivers use easily-forged ID to book a test Driving Test Fraud Soars
Updated: 16:20, Saturday September 30, 2006
A big rise in driving test fraud is putting countless lives at risk.
Thousands of bogus candidates are targeting test centres to obtain licences on behalf of unskilled drivers, the Daily Mail reports.
Last year, almost 5,000 tests were called off because of doubts over the driver's identity.
A similar number of theory tests are also understood to have been stopped, pushing the total towards 10,000.
The paper says fraudulent licences allow people to take to the road and apply for government benefits, credit cards and bank accounts.
The racket involves illegal immigrants and others who wish to have their true names concealed.
They use easily-forged ID to book a test and pay a look-a-like up to £1,500 to pass for them.
Home Office Minister Baroness Scotland said it was clear the public was being put at "substantial risk".
She said: "The system is being systematically targeted by serious organised criminals who obtain driving-test pass certificates through candidate-impersonation fraud."
The probe comes after Somali bus driver Deeg Mohammed, 27, from Battersea, was jailed for 12 months this week for helping 200 of his countrymen gain illegal driving licences.
Of the 200 drivers he impersonated, police only managed to trace 15, meaning he helped put 185 unsafe drivers on to the road and earned more than £100,000 before he was caught.
Theresa Triggs, head of the Driving Standards Agency's anti-fraud team said: "We don't believe that we have uncovered the true extent of the problem."
Unskilled drivers use easily-forged ID to book a test Driving Test Fraud Soars
Updated: 16:20, Saturday September 30, 2006
A big rise in driving test fraud is putting countless lives at risk.
Thousands of bogus candidates are targeting test centres to obtain licences on behalf of unskilled drivers, the Daily Mail reports.
Last year, almost 5,000 tests were called off because of doubts over the driver's identity.
A similar number of theory tests are also understood to have been stopped, pushing the total towards 10,000.
The paper says fraudulent licences allow people to take to the road and apply for government benefits, credit cards and bank accounts.
The racket involves illegal immigrants and others who wish to have their true names concealed.
They use easily-forged ID to book a test and pay a look-a-like up to £1,500 to pass for them.
Home Office Minister Baroness Scotland said it was clear the public was being put at "substantial risk".
She said: "The system is being systematically targeted by serious organised criminals who obtain driving-test pass certificates through candidate-impersonation fraud."
The probe comes after Somali bus driver Deeg Mohammed, 27, from Battersea, was jailed for 12 months this week for helping 200 of his countrymen gain illegal driving licences.
Of the 200 drivers he impersonated, police only managed to trace 15, meaning he helped put 185 unsafe drivers on to the road and earned more than £100,000 before he was caught.
Theresa Triggs, head of the Driving Standards Agency's anti-fraud team said: "We don't believe that we have uncovered the true extent of the problem."
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