Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department

A 29-year-old man in Liverpool and a 48-year-old man in Preston were arrested yesterday on suspicion of fraud and money laundering offences. They are suspected to have made a series of fake travel insurance claims. The man in Liverpool has been released on bail and the man in Preston has been released under investigation.

As the national lead force for fraud, we welcome the launch of the Insurance Fraud Charter announced by Government today. Insurance fraud is not a victimless crime. Find out more about the charter ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eGs3VbTR

A man has been handed a 12 month community order and must complete 120 hours of unpaid work, after he made fake claims against a RSA home insurance policy. Our officers also obtained a compensation order, which means that Roshan Pariag, 52, must pay back the £2,500 he received from RSA as a result of the claims. Pariag, of Kings Avenue, Ealing, received the money to cover the cost of emergency hotel accommodation following a genuine water leak at his home. However, checks by RSA showed that the invoices Pariag submitted to support the claims were fake and that he had cancelled the hotel bookings immediately after making them.

Our officers work around the clock to catch insurance fraudsters. A 41-year-old man was arrested in Bradford during the early hours of 1 October, after he was suspected to have made around £140,000 worth of fraudulent car insurance claims. He has since been released under investigation. 

Today we hosted members of the insurance industry at the Guildhall for our annual engagement event.   The day included presentations to help enhance our collective response to insurance fraud, including current fraud and cyber crime trends, best practice when writing statements to support criminal proceedings, and an introduction to the City of London Police’s Economic and Cyber Crime Academy, which provides specialist training to law enforcement and the private sector.   We also shared insights on the role of our financial investigators, who help ensure that criminals do not profit from fraudulent insurance claims, and how we worked with the City of London Police’s Suspect Offender Management team to prevent a serial fraudster from reoffending.   With around £1.1 billion worth of fraudulent insurance claims detected in 2023 alone, the event highlighted how important it is to pool together our knowledge and resources when responding to an issue of this scale.   Thank you to everyone who attended and all of our fantastic speakers! 👏

New figures from the Association of British Insurers show that around 230 fraudulent insurance claims were detected on average each day in 2023. Insurance fraud is not a victimless crime. It increases the cost of premiums for honest customers, while fraudsters who sell fake car insurance or deliberately cause road traffic collisions to claim compensation put innocent motorists at risk.

A fraudster who sold fake car insurance has been sentenced to two years imprisonment, suspended for two years. Mohamed Choudhary, 33, of Plashet Grove, Newham, is also subject to a six month curfew, which runs daily from 9pm to 6am and is monitored by an electronic tag, and must complete 150 hours of unpaid work and pay £1,630 in costs. Choudhary was banned from driving for 11 months in March 2020, after he was caught driving whilst already disqualified. Towards the end of his second driving ban, Choudhary tried to take out a motor insurance policy with Aviva using a fake no-claims discount certificate. While investigating the policy, Aviva and the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) uncovered that Choudhary was also a ‘ghost broker’, a term used to describe fraudsters who sell fake insurance policies. Ghost brokers claim that they can offer legitimate car insurance at a significantly cheaper price. They will forge insurance documents, falsify customer details to bring the cost of the premium down, or take out a genuine policy and cancel it soon after. Victims often only realise that they do not have genuine cover when they try to make a claim on insurance or are stopped by police. The case was referred to IFED for investigation and Choudhary pleaded guilty at Inner London Crown Court on 1 July 2024 to two counts of fraud by false representation and carrying on a regulated activity when not authorised or exempt. Read more ➡ https://bit.ly/4eLPOnP

A former veterinary nurse has been sentenced to eight months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, after she made false and exaggerated insurance claims for her pets using the systems at her workplace. Gemma Cole, 31, of Staples Barn, Henfield, was also dismissed from her job. Cole was employed as a veterinary nurse at a surgery in West Sussex. She had insurance policies for her cats and dogs under Petplan and Pets at Home, subsidiaries of Allianz, and submitted fraudulent claims for them from December 2018 to May 2023. Cole was sentenced at Lewes Crown Court on 29 August 2024 to eight months imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, and must also complete a 20 day rehabilitation activity requirement. In May 2023, the head veterinary nurse at the practice contacted Allianz to report that Cole had been using Vet Envoy, the system it used to submit insurance claims, to make fraudulent claims. Allianz compared the claims made by Cole against her pets’ records and found that she had claimed for £13,334 worth of medication and treatments that they had not actually received. In October, IFED officers executed a search warrant at Cole’s home address and seized a large quantity of pet medication, including the below, that had been dispensed as a result of the fraudulent claims. Detective Constable Richard Fox said: “Cole exploited her access to her employer’s systems for over four years to receive insurance payouts that she wasn’t entitled to. Submitting claims on insurance that you have deliberately exaggerated is fraud and Cole will now rightly have to face the consequence of having a criminal record.” Read more ➡ https://bit.ly/4e2WxtU

New figures from the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) show that over 4,000 people have been targeted by moped 'crash for cash' fraud in the last three years, leading to fraudulent insurance claims worth an estimated total of £70 million. These collisions pose a threat to the safety of innocent road users and can also have a traumatic effect on victims. We're working with the IFB to raise awareness of moped 'crash for cash' fraud and how the public can protect themselves against it. ⬇

A man who submitted a series of fake home insurance claims to RSA Insurance for the second time, has been jailed for 20 months. Joel Mtebe, 37, of Darwen Fold Close, Chorley, was first sentenced in 2017, after he made 15 fraudulent claims on home insurance policies underwritten by RSA. From March 2019 to February 2022, Mtebe took out six further home insurance policies underwritten by RSA using fictitious identities and made 15 fake claims against them. Nine of the claims were successful and resulted in him receiving payments worth a total of £11,750. However, RSA linked Mtebe to four of the six policies and referred the case to IFED for investigation. Read more ➡ bit.ly/3XfbseQ