Luke Allen is pictured with his partner before their sudden break-up. Photo / A Current Affair
Luke Allen thought he had found the man of his dreams until a strange set of circumstances led him to Google his partner's name — which in turn uncovered an unsettling secret.
The 31-year-old Melburnian told A Current Affair that he was so enraptured with the new man in his life that he was even weighing up marriage.
But despite the daily messages of "I love you", expensive gifts and dinners, Allen accused his former partner of stealing his identity and racking up thousands of dollars in debt in his name.
"I honestly did not see any of this coming," Allen told the show. "He just played the piece so well."
It all came to a head in March this year, when his partner suddenly broke up with him and moved on with a new partner.
It is then that Allen tried to move on. But, when he put in an offer on an apartment his whole world fell apart.
"The bank turned around and said, 'We're not going to touch you with a 10-foot pole, because of your credit history, because you're essentially bankrupt'."
Allen said credit cards and loans were taken out in his name, totalling $651,060, which Allen claims to have had no knowledge of.
He told A Current Affair a forged bank statement was used to secure one loan with Allen's name on it, but he claims it wasn't his account.
He said the bank account belonged to his former partner.
"Two days after [my partner] and I met for the first time, I had three or four credit inquiries made using my name," Allen said.
He was in for a further shock when he typed his ex-boyfriend's name into Google.
"The first time I'd done it in the entire time we'd been seeing each other and the first two articles that popped up were news articles."
They reported that in 2018, his partner narrowly avoided jail after defrauding a food company of more than $186,000.
A Current Affair reported the man is currently wanted in New South Wales after failing to show up to court. He is charged with using his job at a medical clinic in 2019, to make bogus Medicare claims, allegedly pocketing $30,463.
News.com.au has approached NSW Police for comment.
Allen's partner refused to answer questions when approached by A Current Affair and did not respond to a written request for comment.
In a statement, Victoria Police said detectives had received a report of fraud, alleged to have been committed over a four-year period.
"The exact circumstances are yet to be determined and the matter is currently being assessed by investigators," police said.
