The case in summary A 35-year-old asylum seeker stole the identities of several well-known Norwegian people, including Jon Almaas and Fredrik Solvang, in order to defraud them of expensive mobile phones. The man has previously been deported from Norway for profiteering, but has returned several times. Now he has applied for asylum. When he was arrested in Tønsberg in August last year, he had several forged ID and bank cards on him. He has confessed to most of what he is accused of. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAi. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. The case was brought up last summer after the man was caught for ID theft in a shop in Tønsberg. Now he is charged with having misused the identity of several people. Special case In July, he appeared in an electronics shop in Halden. There he was handed two iPhone 14 phones, by pretending to be Melodi Grand Prix contestant Fredrik Solvang. In addition, he was able to set up two mobile phone subscriptions with Telenor. Fredrik Solvang dislikes that someone has misused his identity. – It feels uncomfortable, but luckily it was cleaned up. He has no idea how the defendant managed to get hold of his identity. Debate presenter Fredrik Solvang currently leads news’s Melodi Grand Prix broadcasts. Photo: news – I have no idea. Solvang thinks it is very special that the 35-year-old has used familiar faces in the scams, which have taken place face to face in the various shops. Several celebrities abused The man also visited Power’s shop in Hamar. This time he was equipped with a residence permit card which showed that he was Jon Almaas. When the asylum seeker pretended to be Jon Almaas, he was handed two mobile phones worth around NOK 30,000. Photo: Robert Rønning / Robert Rønning / news He also showed a photo of a passport belonging to the TV profile. That led to him getting two new iPhone 14 phones. In addition, he was able to create a subscription in the presenter’s name. Market manager Elizabeth Gill at Power Norge apologizes for what has happened, and says the stores have routines to avoid just such scams. – Human routine failure can happen and it has happened in this case, unfortunately. We see that fraudsters are also becoming more and more cunning, so it is important that routines are reviewed continuously, says Gill to news. Has applied for asylum in Norway The accused 35-year-old has lived in Norway for several years, but in 2012 he was permanently expelled from the country after he was convicted, among other things, of crime for profit. Nevertheless, he has returned several times and continued his criminal career. A key part of the convictions he has on his record is identity theft. He has now applied for asylum in Norway, even though he has been deported. When he was arrested in Tønsberg in August last year, he had several forged ID and bank cards on him. Due to capacity considerations, only cases that had been fully investigated were included in the case, which is dealt with by the Vestfold district court at the end of February. – I wish I had all the resources in the world and could go really deep. But unfortunately we have not been able to do that, says deputy police officer Josefine Thoreid in the South-East police district. Nevertheless, it has taken six A4 pages to describe all the frauds the man is now accused of. Money needed for tipping The 35-year-old has also used the identity of several unknown people and has been in custody since he was arrested in Tønsberg last autumn. He has confessed to most of what he is accused of. In previous prison meetings, he has said that he suffers from gambling madness, and that he committed the frauds to finance the gambling. The public prosecutor’s office has announced that they will require the confiscation of a number of items, including several tipping slips.
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Asylum seeker stole the identity of Jon Almaas and Fredrik Solvang for fraud – news Vestfold and Telemark – Local news, TV and radio
