Access to property information may be restricted after revelations that Land Registry offices have been used to swindle millions from banks. The spate of multi-million-dollar frauds included an attempt to re-mortgage a boutique worth $15 million. The plan was foiled last week when police arrested six people. Assistant Central District Commander, Acting Superintendent Leung Chin-wah, said the culprits looked up the identity card number of the boutique's owner and used a copy of ownership documents from the Land Registry to forge the deed. 'Our investigation revealed the crooks were planning to approach a solicitor to arrange a re-mortgage by using the forged identity card of the real owner and a forged deed,' he said. Detectives are investigating if the six suspects are behind five other fraud cases involving a total loss of $20 million over the past 10 months. Mr Leung said police and Land Registry officers were discussing how to prevent abuse of easily available information such as the name and identity card number of a property owner. It costs $120 for a microfilm copy of deed and mortgage information. A registry source said one area being studied was whether it was appropriate to continue opening up information for public search. Senior Inspector Li Chi-kin urged solicitors and bankers to check all mortgage applications by taking copies of deeds from the Land Registry and comparing them with the papers presented to them.
