A couple found themselves at the centre of an international fraud probe after post thieves stole their bank details.

Jane and David Freeman, from Saltdean, were astonished when they received a call from their bank asking them to confirm an application for a £55,000 loan.

Police believe they were almost the victims of crooks who are plundering private mail to set up phoney accounts.

Insiders at Royal Mail sorting offices have been blamed for passing post to organised crime gangs, many operating out of West Africa.

The fraudsters tried to arrange loans and overdrafts worth £55,000 through bank accounts set up in the name of Mr Freeman, who lives in Chorley Avenue.

The ploy was foiled when bank staff called the couple querying a date of birth on an application.

Mr Freeman, 36, first became concerned about his business mail when several cheques from customers failed to arrive in November 2001. Clients assured him they had been posted.

The following month he was contacted by internet banking firm Smile, querying an application for a £25,000 loan and a current account with a £5,000 overdraft.

Days later came another query regarding a supposed bid for a £30,000 loan from Intelligent Finance, a division of the Halifax group. Mr Freeman managed to convince the banks he was not responsible.

But the pair were shocked by the Royal Mail's apparent ambivalence when told of the case.

Mrs Freeman, 37, said: "We feel the people at the Royal Mail are trying to wash their hands of the problem. They deny any liability."

On another occasion, an empty, opened envelope was delivered.

Vouchers from a magazine promotion Mrs Freeman had sent off for were missing.

The couple contacted the Metropolitan Police and were told of investigations into West African conmen and corrupt postal workers. Fraud squad officers have confirmed their suspicions about how mail is often intercepted as part of sophisticated rackets.

One method is to get hold of chequebooks posted by a victim's bank. The conmen also seize cheques to note bank account details and to copy signatures.

They then apply to banks to set up bank accounts, either to channel thousands of pounds in bogus cheques, or to run up huge loans and overdrafts.

The innocent victim with their name on the account is then left to face any fraud investigations.

Detective Constable Mick Buggy, of the Met Police's specialist OCU fraud squad, said: "Postal workers stealing from the post is a big problem for the Royal Mail. They can expect jail sentences if caught."

A Royal Mail spokesman said an internal investigation into the case found nothing untoward in the handling of the couple's post.

He said: "Customers can be assured there are rigorous security measures in place to protect mail and our dedicated staff are constantly vigilant.

"We take all customer complaints very seriously and investigate them thoroughly. We apologise to the customers involved for the time taken to complete the investigations in this case."

Mrs Freeman said: "People have told me: 'But you are not the victims, only the bank would be.'

"We are victims because people somehow know our private personal details. That is very frightening."