A man was totally clueless that his identity had been stolen until he was retrenched from work and had to claim his Unemployment Insurance Fund.

Jaime Masinhe, 41, of Diepsloot, northern Johannesburg, said he lost his identity document in 2002 and immediately reported the matter to the police. He also had it replaced.

Masinhe only found out that someone else was using his ID a month ago when he wanted to claim his UIF.

"I got the shock of my life when I was told I cannot claim for UIF because I was detected as still employed by a certain metal company. I could not understand it because I was retrenched," said Masinhe.

He asked for the details of the company and after talking to management, they confirmed that they had a Jaime Masinhe employed by them.

"I met the man and I explained who I was. He looked like he had seen a ghost."

Masinhe said police were called and the man was arrested. He said he wouldn't have known this man was using his ID had it not been for his retrenchment.

"He put his photo on my old ID and lived his life as if he was me. I'm only wondering if he had committed big crimes, I would have been in trouble with the law."

Police spokesperson Constable Justice Ramaube said the man was arrested and charged with fraud. "Investigation also revealed that he had also opened clothing accounts in retail stores in Masinhe's name."

The man, whose real name is Ezekiel Manyisa, 39, from Mozambique, confessed to buying the ID for R200 from an unknown man. Manyisa was denied bail.