- I was at work when a guy from the Tele2 store called Väla and asked if I was inside and tried to buy three mobile phones. They had done an ID scan on the driver's license which showed it was false, says the man from southern Skåne to SVT Nyheter Halland.

That's how it started on a summer day 2017.

Guardsmen were called, but the man who claimed to be the Scania managed to escape.

The victim then called himself around to other telecom companies and then it turned out that he bought a number of mobile phones and subscriptions in his name.

"Too easy to shop"

The fraudster had also bought a computer, a TV and two cars on credit, a total of goods for almost SEK 300,000 - all in the name of the unsuspecting Skåne.

- It was very uncomfortable. It feels like it's too easy to shop without paying. Two cars were handed out without the loan having even gone through. Apparently, only one of the telephone companies that scanned the bar code on the driver's license was false, he tells SVT.

Now, just over two years later, the man from Laholm is being prosecuted for gross fraud and illegal use of identity. He was caught on surveillance films in several of the stores and has admitted in police interviews that he is.

He says in the interrogation that he was in debt to people he did not want to name, and that these forced him to do so to write off the debt.

Restrictive with social security number

All ID information and verification numbers on the front of the counterfeit driver's license exactly match the genuine. Only the facial image has been replaced. How the forger got over the information has not been clarified by the victim.

- I have my clues, but can't prove anything, he says, and tells of a fairly common situation during a holiday abroad a month earlier where it was required that he could identify himself with his driver's license and where a photocopy of it was also taken.

Has it changed your behavior in how you manage your ID information?

- Yes, I am very restrictive with giving out my social security number. If I go to the post office, I never let them bring my driver's license when they pick up the package. It takes a couple of seconds to photograph a driver's license and then they have all the information. But it is hard. If you are abroad, for example, you often have to hand in your passport at the hotel reception to rent a room, says the man to SVT News Halland.