Two weeks after he moved in to the rental property in Cambridge the tenant had created a "fake estate agent" in order to list the property for sale on-line and had fitted the property out with rented show home furniture.

Two potential purchasers contacted the fake estate agency and a sale price was agreed with one of them who then visited the property with a surveyor. However, the purchaser contacted the police after neighbours told them that the house was a rental and not for sale. Police arrested the tenant at an address in Bedford and discovered that his documents were fraudulent and that he had made payments to a company that rented out furniture for use in dressing show homes.

The tenant pleaded guilty to fraud by misrepresentation and money laundering offences and was sentenced to two and a half years at Brighton Magistrates Court. The investigating detective is quoted in the PropertyInvestorPost saying "This is an almost unbelievable and truly brazen crime, which saw an innocent buyer almost part with more than £400,000 for a property that was never for sale in the first place".

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