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A self-styled viscount who defrauded his mother-in-law out of £150,000 whilst posing as a shipping magnate was recently jailed for 40 months.
Kirk Brown, 46, changed his name by deed poll to Vizconde von Hoehen de Bessarabia and claimed he was due a £400m inheritance, Blackfriars Crown Court heard.
Pretending to own a shipping firm, the fantasist persuaded his wife’s mother, Nicola Young, to plough £150,000 into the non-existent business.
He also convinced his wife’s uncle, Richard Birch, to transfer a total of £116,000 into bogus ventures – one involving a Bulgarian ‘whizz-kid’ stock-broker.
Brown convinced his wife’s family he was the scion of an obscure European royal family and invented ridiculous excuses when his scheme failed.
The ‘grandiose’ cheat once claimed that an employee had emptied the contents of his bank account and donated it to the Taliban, the court heard.
People think they can used deed polls to change their identity to defraud people, but 99% of people end up being caught, so our advice is not to bother!
A viscount is a member of the British aristocracy and is some where between a Baron and an Earl.
