A man from the Battersea area was searched by officers on April 2nd and was found in possession of a number of mobile phones. - One of these was an iPhone 4. Officers conducted a check on the phone using the National Mobile Phone Register and found that the phone had already had an insurance claim made against it.

The insurance agent was contacted and it was discovered that the claim had been made by the man who had been searched.

It is believed that this person had falsely reported to his insurance company that he had lost his phone.

As a result of this he was arrested and later charged with fraud by false representation. This is an offence which carries a maximum penalty of ten years imprisonment.

In addition, the insurance company have stated that they will also be taking the man to civil court in order to recover their losses.

Mobile phone network operators and major insurance companies regularly share information in a database to identify false reports so that they can be thoroughly investigated and offenders prosecuted.