A MAN almost lost £7,500 after his identity was stolen, it was revealed today.

The father-of-two said he wanted to warn other people before they fell victim to a similar racket.

The "sting" netted the fraudster £7,500 but, fortunately for the victim, the bank which sanctioned the fraudulent loan agreed to carry the cost.

The case follows the jailing of York identity thief Joseph Constantine Ashby, who is serving a three-and-a-half year prison sentence after netting more than £40,000 using other people's names.

The victim in the latest incident, a 36-year-old father-of-two from Selby who does not wish to be identified, said it had been a traumatic experience for him and his wife.

He said: "The first inkling we had was when we did not receive any mail for a few days. Our postman became suspicious and asked us if we had put a stop on our mail which, of course, we hadn't.

"Apparently a man had been in Selby Post Office and put a stop on our mail, using fake identification. On another day he also picked up some of our mail from the post office.

"I immediately contacted the post office and the police. A week later I received a letter out of the blue from a bank, with whom I had no accounts whatsoever, to say that our loan application for £7,500 had been successful.

"I told them I had not applied for a loan and a search was made against my name.

"Despite none of my personal details matching those of the fraudster, I got fed up of receiving demands for the first instalment on the loan.

"Eventually they accepted it had been a fraud."

He said: "I have sifted through envelopes containing bank statements and credit cards, but I can account for everything. I just don't know how he's got my details.

"I do bank online with a building society, so whether the internet is the weak link I don't know.

"Somehow he has managed to provide a bank statement with my name and address on it. How he did it is a complete mystery. It came as a big shock for both me and my wife and the worrying thing is it could happen to anybody.

"We were lucky it was detected so early. He could have siphoned off a lot more money but, luckily, we live in a small town and people who work in the post office knew us and were quick to alert us.

"We didn't use to shred anything but after this I went straight out bought a shredder - and so have a lot of our friends."

His wife said: "It was easy money. All he had to do was fill in a form and have the nerve to stop our mail."

Detective Sergeant Marie Taylor, of Selby CID, said they were investigating.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: "Customers wishing to collect their mail using our Call And Collect service must fill in a form and provide some identification with their address, such as a utility bill or a driving licence. On every subsequent visit they are required to show proof of identification. Those are the rules.

"If someone does come in and uses fake identification there's nothing we can do about it, unless the document is suspicious."

Updated: 10:56 Thursday, May 19, 2005