A master forger with a string of criminal convictions that span the globe, including in Canada, has been busted in the Philippines.

The man identified as Michael David Reid, 40, was collared inside a home at the Timog Park Subdivision in Angeles City, Pampanga.

(Illustration of identity theft)

At that time the Guelph court was told that he had at least 50 separate identities, had used up to 83 aliases and had more than 160 credit cards in other people's names. When arrested, he told police that he had not worked in 14 years and listed his occupation as a fraud artist.

Reid, a British national, had been on Canada's wanted list since August 2003. Police records show the man has a long criminal history but has managed to avoid lengthy sentences.

In October 1992, Reid attempted to run over a US customs officer in Blaine, Washington while trying to flee from border agents who wanted to seize his vehicle for immigration violation.

Reid at that time allegedly tried to smuggle his girlfriend into the US with fake documents and he was later arrested in March 1993, convicted for attempted assault on a federal officer and sentenced to six-months in jail.

In 1995, Hamilton police arrested Reid along with Reena Devi Singh, 20, a female refugee claimant holding a passport from Fiji and Robert Joel Vans, 35, an American man wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for fraud.

They were charged with conspiracy to commit fraud over $1,000.Police told media after the arrests that the trio was part of an alleged fraud aimed at defrauding banks and credit card companies across Canada and the United States through the use of false identities.

They had set up a base of operations at a Queen Street North apartment to orchestrate an elaborate scam which called for the movement of money between accounts set up under false identities at dozens of financial institutions.

Many of the identities were culled from obituary columns in newspapers across Canada, the United States and even the Caribbean. Cheques from one account were transferred to another bank, usually out of province. Before the cheques could be cleared, the funds were withdrawn.

Airline tickets purchased with credit cards issued under phony names were also returned unused for credit or cash.

The scheme came to light when Metro Toronto police became suspicious over the sale of a diamond to a pawnbroker and traced the seller to postal box addresses in Toronto and Hamilton.

When they raided Reid's apartment, police found blank drivers' licence forms from places such as Montana and New Zealand, false laminated drivers' licences for at least half a dozen jurisdictions in the United States, plus cheques made out to several banks and credit unions.Also found was a cheque writer, airline tickets and the type of camera used to make drivers' licences. After another short stint in jail, Reid was found in possession of several pieces of false identification when he was arrested by Interpol in Copenhagen in 1998.

In February 2001, Reid became the target of a Guelph police investigation after suspicious activity was discovered in a Royal Bank account.

As police investigated Reid's conduct they realized the man had also opened bank accounts at other local branches, as well as banks in Burlington, Oakville and the Toronto area under various names.

In each case he used false identification to open the accounts.

Reid was arrested by Guelph police outside his home on April 2, 2001.

When police searched the man's car they found 50 file folders, each containing credit cards, birth certificates and driver's licences in different names.

Inside Reid's townhouse police found an elaborate forgery operation in the basement including a photo laminating machine similar to those used at driver's licence offices, a cheque-making machine and a personal computer.Reid told police he regularly obtained traveller's cheques in bogus names, went abroad and falsely reported them stolen to collect compensation, although he still has the original cheques.

Reid said the financial institutions have no problem issuing replacement cheques as long as the person making the claim has a bank account and a couple of credit cards.

A court hearing was told that Reid's known aliases were sent to American Express, which estimated Reid has cost the company $130,000 in bad credit cards and false refunds on travellers' cheques.

The Discover credit card company estimated its known losses at $23,000.

Reid was sentenced to two years in a federal prison but was released on parole a short while later.

In early 2003 he fled the country and went to Thailand where he was arrested on a case of credit card fraud and released on bail.Last July 11, Reid arrived in the Philippines and set up shop outside Manila.

There he allegedly plotted another scam with two Americans involving credit card fraud and money laundering activities.

When the Americans began working with local cops, Reid allegedly hired an undercover agent to kill the witnesses. Last August 10, Philippine Bureau of Immigration officers arrested Reid.