Episode 2 Claimed and Shamed

Insurance fraud in the UK is reaching epidemic levels,

and it's costing us billions of pounds a year.

Deliberate crashes, bogus personal injury claims,

even fake deaths.

The fraudsters are risking more and more to make a quick killing

and every year, it's adding up to £50 to your insurance bill.

Insurers are fighting back.

Armed with covert surveillance systems,

sophisticated data analysis techniques...

This is connected to a bank account and a second mobile phone number.

..and a newly formed, dedicated police unit...

Police! Step back!

..they're catching the criminals red handed.

All those conmen, scammers and cheats on the fiddle,

now they're caught in the act

and Claimed and Shamed.

Today, the police insurance fraud team - IFED -

is hunting down suspects...

He needs to phone, cos otherwise we'll come back

and we'll keep coming back, until we get him. OK?

Cos this is quite serious. It's not going to go away.

..a would-be conman comes a cropper...

There's no way that it could have happened as it was described.

..and a claimer is shamed in the gym.

There was no form of dysfunction visible in any way, shape or form.

This is Milton Keynes, home to Michael Richards.

Eight years ago, Michael was a passenger in a serious car crash.

The vehicle smashed into a wall, killing the driver,

but Michael pulled through.

Unfortunately, the driver didn't have insurance,

so Michael's case was passed on to the MIB - Motor Insurers Bureau -

an organisation set up and funded by the insurance industry.

The MIB is there to compensate

innocent victims of uninsured and untraced drivers.

And that means a whole variety of injuries.

It could be a minor injury, it could be a catastrophic injury.

We're there to help those people,

to provide a fund from which they can claim compensation.

Details of the crash, and Michael's medical treatments, were passed to the MIB.

Michael Richards said he had a head injury, as well as other injuries.

And he presented in a way suggesting that he had such a bad brain injury

that he was virtually mute.

He was saying he needed care, he needed a lot of help,

that he could hardly speak and that he needed lots of help

and assistance to carry on his normal life.

He made a claim to the MIB because the driver wasn't insured

and that was his only route, potentially, to compensation.

What's called "a schedule of loss",

which is, essentially, a shopping list-type claim

presented to us by his lawyers,

totalled some £2.35 million.

The severity of the head injury that Michael was claiming for

meant that the MIB was dealing with a huge payout for care and assistance,

so it was natural for them to look closely at the case

and order medical examinations.

When he saw one of our experts,

in one interview, he uttered 15 words in an 80-minute interview.

He said that he was seriously impaired by his injuries.

But as the MIB continued its investigations,

they noticed some strange inconsistencies.

Subsequently, we obtained his police records.

Now this showed, subsequent to the accident in the car,

he was arrested for another offence.

And when we obtained the PACE interview notes,

it was clear he was talking perfectly normally to the police officers.

And it was also clear, he had been giving us a false address.

The MIB was, by now, so suspicious, it called in expert investigators,

specialising in covert filming.

We live in a surveillance society.

Effectively fraudsters are aware they might be placed under surveillance.

To that end, we have to stay one step ahead of the game

and the equipment that we have to use has to be cutting edge.

It's as simple as that.

Using all its expertise to stay hidden,

the surveillance team went deep undercover to find out what was really going on.

What we did discover, when we eventually turned up

and undertook the surveillance on him, was that he was visiting a gym.

Filming in a gym is obviously going to be quite a difficult scenario

for the operatives to find themselves in.

They're likely to be in sportswear - there's not a lot of room

to hide a camera in a pair of shorts or a sports vest.

But they overcame these challenges

and were able to film Michael without being detected.

What they discovered was jaw dropping.

He was talking and bantering with other gym users.

There was no form of dysfunction visible in any way shape or form.

Here was a man who was going about his normal routine, or daily life,

and wasn't hampered in any way, shape or form,

by the purported injury that he had sustained.

It was solid evidence of lying and fraud.

We presented this evidence to Mr Richards, via his lawyers, who promptly withdrew his claim.

But the MIB wasn't prepared to let the case drop.

It wanted to see Michael's attempt to defraud them punished.

We took the case to court.

The judge accepted that he had tried to mislead the court,

he was guilty of contempt of court.

Consequently, Mr Richards received a prison sentence.

Michael was sentenced to four months in prison

for falsely claiming £2.35 million.

For us, it felt excellent

that someone who was claiming a seven-figure sum,

their case was pushed all the way through to the criminal court.

It felt as if that person had received their just desserts.

One of the largest-ever insurance fraud rings is busted...

In that 18 months, they could have made £3.2 million.

..and a swindling claimer is shamed for life.

What this shows you is that it's not OK to do that

and do you realise what impact that'll have on your friends

and your family if you get caught?

Police! Step back!

Insurance fraud is on the rise.

Hunting and punishing the criminals responsible is an elite police squad

called the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department - IFED.

The Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department was set up this year,

with the sole intention of combating the rise in insurance fraud.

We are a dedicated unit that works exclusively tackling that problem.

A growing number of fraudsters are prepared to lie and cheat their way

to money they don't deserve.

But they'd better watch their backs, because IFED is on the case.

Since our go-live date earlier this year,

we've effected over 120 arrests in the first six months

and we are continuing to work up and down the country,

bringing these offenders to justice.

IFED is determined to win the fight against fraudsters.

We're out to stop them in their tracks.

There's every chance that an IFED detective may come knocking on their door,

to arrest them for committing an insurance fraud.

Police! Don't move! Stay where you are!

Yes, we're looking to go to two addresses today,

to arrest two suspects who we believe have conspired together to plan, um,

a crash between a coach and a car,

purely for the purposes of submitting fake personal injury whiplash claims.

The evidence that we'll be looking at today,

we'll be looking to find any documentation

in relation to any of those insurance claims.

Um, any vehicle documentation of the vehicle

that was involved in the collision with the coach.

And also one very important thing is mobile phones,

because we believe there has been some form of mobile phone contact,

both before and immediately after the crash

between individuals on the coach

and the main person, who we know has planned this particular fraud.

IFED believes that the two suspects hoped to make money

by claiming falsely for whiplash injuries sustained in the fake crash.

If the claim had paid out,

with numerous personal injury claims and damage to vehicles,

they were set to make over £100,000.

IFED needs to find their first suspect

and they also need to find evidence

that links him to the car and the coach passengers.

They begin their search for the suspect at his mum's house.

-Police! Hello. BLEEP City Police. Who's here? Just yourself?

-Me, yeah.

-Where is his flat?

The first suspect's mum claims that she doesn't know where his flat is.

She's saying he lives in his own flat, moved out four months ago,

she doesn't know the door number, doesn't know the flat name.

She says she's got no contact number for her own son, everything else,

so she's clearly lying to us, clearly obstructing us,

probably so she can put a phone call in as soon as we've gone

and tip him off, really, that we're on our way.

She tells them to try his ex-partner's place,

but says she doesn't know the exact address of that, either.

What does the front door...? What colour is the front door?

I think that you're lying to me and my patience is wearing a bit thin.

How do you get in contact? So he doesn't phone you?

Do you have a mobile? You don't have a mobile?

He needs to phone, because otherwise we'll come back

and we'll keep coming back until we get him. OK?

Because this is quite serious, it's not going to go away.

Using the rough information she's given them,

their next stop is the house of the first suspect's ex-partner.

Police. Is he in?

No. He doesn't live here with me.

Do you know his address?

-No.

-All right. OK.

The ex-partner has no idea where he is

and the hunt is beginning to feel like a wild goose chase.

Their investigations have given them one last address to try.

He's opening up, he's opening up.

They arrive at the block of flats

and quickly establish which apartment the suspects are in.

That's where they are?

Are they in?

Finally, it seems like they're getting closer.

Hello, mate.

BLEEP

Not here. Does he live here?

What number?

Yet again the first suspect seems to have eluded them,

but suddenly, they get a lead about the second suspect.

Do you just live here on your own?

What's his name?

When the man reveals the name of his son,

they realise they've found the second suspect.

Then he backtracks and confirms the first suspect is there, too.

Right, where are they?

Can you hang on?

What? No? I'm not hanging on.

Can I have a word with you, mate? Can you come in the front room?

But when they enter the premises, it's clear he's hiding from them.

Is he in there?

It doesn't take long to flush him out though.

-Yeah?

-Bathroom.

All right. So don't give me no more BLEEP, all right?

All right, mate. Have a seat.

Right, you're being arrested for conspiracy to defraud, OK?

Although suspects are under arrest,

it's still far from being a watertight case.

It's vital that the team find documentary evidence of the suspected fraud,

or the charges won't stand up and the whole case will be dropped.

What I don't want to do is turn this upside down and shake it, yeah?

Which I will do if I have to.

But if you give us what I'm asking, there's no need for me to do that.

The enhanced security features on top-of-the-range cars

mean that thieves are losing out

and fraudsters are being stopped in their tracks, too.

Headteacher Alan Bromley drove a car that befitted his status - a BMW 3 series.

But if he'd gone for a more downmarket car,

he might have got away with his scam.

One night, he drove to a carol service and parked nearby,

keeping the keys in his possession the whole time.

Afterwards, he got a lift home because he'd had a few drinks.

A short time later, his car was found ablaze six miles away.

Alan contacted his insurers to say his car had been stolen and set on fire.

But right from the start, things didn't add up.

Ursula Coulibaly is Head of Financial Crime and worked on the Alan Bromley claim.

We first suspected there may be something wrong

with Alan Bromley's claim

when he phoned through to our fire and theft teams.

The reports we had from the police and fire brigade, some of the information that was in there

again contradicted the story that Mr Bromley gave us

when he initially made his claim.

The insurers were particularly concerned about the timings Alan had given them.

The independent engineers' report that we asked for,

again as part of the investigation,

specifically set out, if the car was stolen without keys,

what tools they'd need to have to steal the car

and how long it would take.

With the timings that Mr Bromley gave us and the time that the fire brigade attended,

there's no way that it could have happened as it was described.

Alarm bells were ringing

and the insurers asked a company specialising in vehicle examination

to look at what was left of the car.

Phil Hoyes is the engineer who performed the inspection.

When I found the vehicle,

it had sustained quite heavy fire damage.

The condition of the car was approaching a complete burn out.

Even so, he was still able to carry out a thorough assessment.

My remit was quite straightforward for examining the car -

it was to determine whether there were any signs of forced entry.

When I got to examining the locking systems and the doors,

there were no signs of forced damage to the locking systems

or around the door hinges or the door frames themselves

or the door mechanisms.

So if the doors hadn't been forced,

then the only way into the car for a thief would have been the windows.

There was a problem there, too.

A close examination inside the doors

found the glass from the windows had melted inside the doors,

showing the windows weren't smashed. If the windows had been smashed

and forced entry had been gained that way,

then you would have found fragments of the glass inside the vehicle

and it would have melted in that position.

He hadn't lost the keys,

there was no forced entry and the windows hadn't been smashed.

So how could the car have been stolen?

Alan Bromley's story was going up in smoke, but he wasn't going to budge.

Despite the information

and the evidence that we managed to gain from our investigation,

Mr Bromley has been adamant throughout that he's not acted in a fraudulent manner.

There was one more piece of evidence for the insurers to analyse

and it proved to be the most important.

the key to what really happened was just that - the car key.

It contains a microchip, which records detailed information about the car that can be analysed later.

It does give us information, such as the mileage at the last time it was driven

and also the last time it was used.

When we did the keys analysis report, it contradicted Alan Bromley's case.

What it told us actually was that the car had been used after

he'd told us he'd used it last and, in addition to that,

it was just shortly before the fire brigade were called.

They now had all the evidence. The only thing missing was a motive.

But luckily, the keys analysis report

and evidence from the financial contract for the car

gave them the information they needed.

Within that contract, there were terms around how much mileage he could do per year.

Once again, from the keys report, that helped us to determine

that actually Mr Bromley had gone way over his mileage allowance.

In the event he gave his car back,

he would either have to pay the entire financial agreement, in full,

or he'd have to pay the excess for the additional mileage, which was significant.

We believe that was the financial motive for what happened.

With evidence and a motive,

the insurers informed Mr Bromley they wouldn't be paying his claim.

At that point, the police moved in to arrest him.

But even then, Alan Bromley stuck to his version of events.

Mr Bromley has always denied that the claim he submitted was fraudulent

throughout our investigation process and once it went to court.

Alan Bromley was prosecuted for false representation

and he was given a 12-week suspended sentence.

Although he stood to lose a lot of money on the vehicle contract,

the cost to Alan Bromley's reputation and career is arguably greater.

He's currently banned from teaching.

In Mr Bromley's case, he was upstanding in the community,

he was a headteacher, well thought of

and what this shows you is that it's not OK to do that

and do you realise what impact that'll have on your friends and family if you get caught?

If you're ever thinking about doing something like this, think again.

Insurers are a lot better at detecting fraud.

And now we've got the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department,

and they will take action, don't let it be you that they come to next.

While some fraudsters exaggerate claims for genuine car accidents...

And just brake, brake, brake. Yes.

..others demand compensation for collisions that never even happened.

These so-called accidents are known as staged crashes

and can generate a lot of money.

This makes them an attractive prospect for criminal gangs.

As far back as 2006, Longmeadow Farm near Luton

was on the police radar as a possible setting for organised criminal activity.

At the time, the police had no actual evidence of any wrongdoing,

so they decided to set up a surveillance team to find out more.

Detective Constable Mick Conneely, who has since retired, was part of the operation.

The purpose of doing the observations

was to establish what criminality

the group of people at Longmeadow Farm were involved in, if any.

And it wasn't long

before the police surveillance at the farm began to bear fruit.

When this blue Astra arrives at Longmeadow,

it looks to be in pretty good nick.

But without ever leaving the farm, 24 hours later,

it's so smashed up that it's become a complete write off.

It's clear evidence of a car being deliberately damaged.

There were vehicles that were being damaged at Longmeadow Farm.

So that gave us the view that they were involved in criminal activity

involved around staged, induced, exaggerated accident claims.

But staged accidents were just the start.

There were more revelations when the police expanded the investigation.

We made contact with the insurers

and established that some of the vehicles on the farm

were also subject of accident claims and, from that,

we were able to establish

who the accident management company were that were involved in that

and that came down to a company called Swift Accident Management.

It was only when we looked at who was managing all those accidents,

it turns out they were in business with the people from Longmeadow Farm.

Accident management companies exist solely to manage and process claims from people involved in accidents.

The link between the people who were damaging cars at Longmeadow Farm

and the people who operated Swift Accident Management

immediately aroused suspicion and pointed towards Swift operating fraudulently.

There are genuine accident management companies,

but there are a lot of accident management companies

who are either completely fraudulent or who do some fraud,

in that they exaggerate claims,

they add ghost passengers to claims, so they make money fraudulently.

Ghost passengers is the term for when an accident management company

adds fictitious passengers to a genuine accident,

in order to bump up the amount of personal injury being claimed.

It was a technique that Swift used to cheat more money out of insurers.

But the fraudulent behaviour didn't stop there.

At the same office where they were,

there was a taxi company called Kim's Fleet Cars.

The manager of Kim's Fleet Cars

was the brother of the manager of Swift Accident Management.

So they had a number of drivers there and a number of cars that they used in fraudulent claims.

They created their own business by staging their own accidents

where an accident's never happened.

They're completely fictitious, so that any money that's made

goes directly to the accident management company

and it's a way of making a lot of money from a single claim.

There was now enough evidence to convince the police

they had uncovered a huge web of criminal activity.

Between them, the criminals at Swift and Longmeadow Farm

were creating staged accidents on an industrial scale.

Swift Accident Management themselves were in business

between August 2005 and November 2006,

so in effect they were in business for about 18 months.

In that 18 months, they dealt with 180 accident claims

and, out of those, there were 230 individual claims.

So the extra 50 were for personal injury claims.

So it was a lot in that period of time

and, of course, that generates a huge amount of money.

It looks like the level of criminality didn't stop there.

It seems one of the gang members was also engaged in a more basic form of theft -

stealing CDs from the wrecked cars.

In terms of claims already paid out and claims submitted,

Swift stood to cheat the insurers out of a mind-blowing amount of money.

If you look at what Swift could have made, in that 18 months,

they could have made £3.2 million.

The police operation ensured the gang operating Swift and Longmeadow Farm didn't get away with it.

Once they had evidence of cars being deliberately damaged, the police moved in.

The sheer scale of the criminal operation meant that 750 people gave statements,

60 people were arrested and 36 vehicles were seized.

The hearings alone lasted three years and 37 people were convicted.

Police! Hello.

The Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department, IFED,

is on the hunt for suspects it believes are linked to an alleged crash-for-cash scam.

After being given the run-around,

IFED eventually tracks down the man they believe to be the ringleader

to a flat belonging to the other suspect on their list.

The IFED team cracks on with their search for evidence.

Is that them all?

What I don't want to do is turn this upside down and shake it,

which I will do if I have to,

but if you give us what I'm asking to there's no need for me to do that.

All right, mate.

What they're looking for is proof of the link between the two men

and the accident with the coach and the car.

We've found two mobile phones that we are interested in.

We've found some documentation.

I believe it links him to the offence that we're investigating.

We've also found a number of bank cards which I want to compare to certain elements of the offence.

But that's just the start. As the IFED team searches the flat,

they turn up signs of a separate offence.

So what are they? Everton?

So they're all counterfeit gear, basically, then, yeah?

Right. Bag it all up.

Does it work? How old is it?

They decide to get the suspects taken to a local police station,

but the search for evidence continues.

Police! Hello!

DS Mark Forster leads the search in the first suspect's flat.

This is how we found it when we've come in the bedroom.

There's a box that may have been taken off the wardrobe or some other place.

There's a bag here which is empty,

so I can only presume that all this documentation was in this bag.

So at some time shortly before we've arrived and arrested him this morning,

um, he's obviously had a quick rummage through this,

maybe in an attempt to try and get rid of evidence, basically,

that might be key to our investigation.

He's obviously been tipped off that we were looking for him,

cos we've been to his mother's address, to his ex-partner's address.

We know that, when we arrested him upstairs,

his mobile phone is sat on the table, ringing,

with his mum trying to get in touch with him.

She told us she didn't know where he lived, didn't know his address,

didn't have his contact telephone number for him,

or any way of getting in touch with him,

so I'll be going back and having a word with mum later on today.

After sifting through the paperwork,

Mark finds the evidence he's looking for -

a link between the suspect and the vehicle.

We've found a driving licence

belonging to the driver of the car that hit the coach up the rear.

We've found insurance documentation

relating to the insurance of that vehicle.

MOT certificates, a current MOT certificate for that vehicle.

And various other scraps of paper

with lists of names which we believe may, um, be those people

that were on the coach at the time of the accident,

who have subsequently put in personal injury claims.

So it's nice, because it links the gentleman who lives here

to both parties - those on the coach and the driver of the car.

And it's fantastic evidence for us,

certainly more than we thought we'd find.

Both suspects are currently on bail.

If charged with conspiracy to commit fraud and found guilty,

they could get a jail term of up to ten years.

In the first six months of operation,

IFED has already busted 80 suspected fraudsters.

This pair aren't the first - and they certainly won't be the last

to get a knock on the door from the elite police squad.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd