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Insurance fraud has reached epidemic levels in the UK. | 0:00:05 | 0:00:09 | |
It's costing us more than £1.3 billion every year. | 0:00:09 | 0:00:14 | |
That is almost £3.6 million every day. | 0:00:14 | 0:00:17 | |
Deliberate crashes, bogus personal injuries, even phantom pets. | 0:00:19 | 0:00:24 | |
The fraudsters are risking more and more to make a quick killing, | 0:00:26 | 0:00:29 | |
and every year it's adding around £50 to your insurance bill. | 0:00:29 | 0:00:33 | |
But insurers are fighting back, | 0:00:33 | 0:00:35 | |
exposing just under 15 fake claims every hour. | 0:00:35 | 0:00:39 | |
Armed with covert surveillance systems... | 0:00:39 | 0:00:41 | |
The subject out of the vehicle. | 0:00:41 | 0:00:44 | |
..sophisticated data analysis techniques... | 0:00:44 | 0:00:46 | |
..and a number of highly skilled police units... | 0:00:49 | 0:00:51 | |
Police! Stay where you are! | 0:00:51 | 0:00:53 | |
..they are catching the criminals red-handed. | 0:00:53 | 0:00:55 | |
Just don't lie to us. | 0:00:55 | 0:00:56 | |
All those conmen, scammers and cheats on the fiddle | 0:00:58 | 0:01:01 | |
are now caught in the act and claimed and shamed. | 0:01:01 | 0:01:04 | |
Today, the Met Police Traffic Unit hunt for a crash-for-cash suspect... | 0:01:10 | 0:01:16 | |
One particular person that I'm looking for. | 0:01:16 | 0:01:18 | |
If he's identified, then I will go and arrest him. | 0:01:18 | 0:01:20 | |
I've a warrant... | 0:01:20 | 0:01:22 | |
..a claimant's story falls apart... | 0:01:22 | 0:01:24 | |
..and a trip-and-slip claim is grounded by CCTV. | 0:01:33 | 0:01:37 | |
When we first saw the footage, you can't help but chuckle | 0:01:37 | 0:01:40 | |
at its ridiculous attempts to invent a claim. | 0:01:40 | 0:01:43 | |
Now, as we all know, | 0:01:48 | 0:01:49 | |
when we get behind the wheel, driving does have its dangers. | 0:01:49 | 0:01:52 | |
But one of the greatest risks on our roads are crash-for-cash gangs. | 0:01:52 | 0:01:57 | |
They're ruthless, they're convincing and they don't care who gets hurt. | 0:01:57 | 0:02:00 | |
Here's how it works. | 0:02:00 | 0:02:02 | |
First, the gang choose a victim, then they move their two cars | 0:02:03 | 0:02:07 | |
into position in front of the target. | 0:02:07 | 0:02:10 | |
Gang car number one then slams on its brakes. | 0:02:10 | 0:02:13 | |
Gang car two reacts by breaking hard, | 0:02:13 | 0:02:16 | |
resulting in a rear-end shunt from the victim. | 0:02:16 | 0:02:19 | |
Gang car one then turns off at the nearest possible exit, | 0:02:19 | 0:02:22 | |
pretending to be unaware of the crash, | 0:02:22 | 0:02:25 | |
leaving the victim supposedly at fault for the damage | 0:02:25 | 0:02:27 | |
to gang car two. | 0:02:27 | 0:02:29 | |
The gang then exaggerates the amount of damage and injury | 0:02:29 | 0:02:33 | |
in order to get more compensation. | 0:02:33 | 0:02:35 | |
It's so well practised that you might not even realise | 0:02:36 | 0:02:39 | |
you've been a victim, but the police are fighting back. | 0:02:39 | 0:02:43 | |
The Met's Roads & Transport Policing Unit | 0:02:43 | 0:02:46 | |
has built its reputation on smashing organised criminal gangs | 0:02:46 | 0:02:49 | |
operating crash-for-cash rings. | 0:02:49 | 0:02:51 | |
In this next case they were approached by a large retailer. | 0:02:51 | 0:02:54 | |
The company was concerned about a series of incidents | 0:02:54 | 0:02:57 | |
involving their delivery vans. | 0:02:57 | 0:02:59 | |
DI Dave Hindmarsh heads up the proactive team | 0:03:03 | 0:03:05 | |
for the Traffic Command. | 0:03:05 | 0:03:07 | |
This fraud first came to light | 0:03:07 | 0:03:09 | |
by one of the well-known supermarkets... | 0:03:09 | 0:03:11 | |
came to ourselves, the Met Police. | 0:03:11 | 0:03:13 | |
They believed they had a problem | 0:03:13 | 0:03:15 | |
with one of their distribution centres | 0:03:15 | 0:03:17 | |
and the fact it has a disproportionate amount of collisions, | 0:03:17 | 0:03:20 | |
which they now believed to be suspicious. | 0:03:20 | 0:03:23 | |
But it soon became clear this was no ordinary crash-for-cash operation. | 0:03:25 | 0:03:29 | |
Something strange was afoot. | 0:03:29 | 0:03:32 | |
The suspicious collisions and claims were varied. | 0:03:32 | 0:03:36 | |
There was the usual induced collision that we see quite a lot, | 0:03:36 | 0:03:39 | |
with a vehicle running into the back of another. | 0:03:39 | 0:03:42 | |
But there were also some other collisions | 0:03:42 | 0:03:44 | |
which were vehicles reversing round corners into parked cars, | 0:03:44 | 0:03:48 | |
which we hadn't seen before. | 0:03:48 | 0:03:49 | |
So it was quite unusual to have two different sets of circumstances. | 0:03:49 | 0:03:54 | |
Either way, a considerable amount of money was at stake. | 0:03:54 | 0:03:57 | |
In terms of the claims that were coming in, | 0:03:57 | 0:03:59 | |
they were for personal injury, whiplash, | 0:03:59 | 0:04:01 | |
pre-accident value for the vehicle, | 0:04:01 | 0:04:03 | |
credit hire for a replacement vehicle | 0:04:03 | 0:04:05 | |
whilst the other one was being repaired or had been written off. | 0:04:05 | 0:04:08 | |
They were averaging around about £20,000-£30,000 per claim. | 0:04:08 | 0:04:12 | |
But as yet they didn't know how many bogus collisions | 0:04:12 | 0:04:15 | |
they were dealing with or how to connect the main suspects. | 0:04:15 | 0:04:18 | |
We were investigating this for some time | 0:04:18 | 0:04:21 | |
and we were a bit confused because some of the links | 0:04:21 | 0:04:24 | |
weren't there where we would expect them to be, | 0:04:24 | 0:04:26 | |
and then there was a slight eureka moment by the officer involved | 0:04:26 | 0:04:30 | |
in the case when we actually identified there were two gangs | 0:04:30 | 0:04:33 | |
who had actually targeted the supermarket chain | 0:04:33 | 0:04:36 | |
independent of each other, | 0:04:36 | 0:04:38 | |
which was why we couldn't find links with every single person involved. | 0:04:38 | 0:04:43 | |
We'd never come across two different gangs who weren't working | 0:04:43 | 0:04:48 | |
with each other, didn't know about each other | 0:04:48 | 0:04:51 | |
targeting the same victim. | 0:04:51 | 0:04:52 | |
It was quite unusual from our point of view. | 0:04:52 | 0:04:55 | |
This unprecedented coincidence explained the two different types | 0:04:55 | 0:04:58 | |
of circumstances. | 0:04:58 | 0:05:00 | |
The team then looked into the individuals associated | 0:05:00 | 0:05:03 | |
with each group. | 0:05:03 | 0:05:05 | |
One of the organised gangs, | 0:05:05 | 0:05:07 | |
we identified the ringleader as Bashir Zairi. | 0:05:07 | 0:05:10 | |
Zairi was an interesting character. | 0:05:10 | 0:05:12 | |
In fact, he had used various derivatives of his name | 0:05:12 | 0:05:18 | |
to become involved in what appeared to be about 100 collisions | 0:05:18 | 0:05:22 | |
and, all told, he'd made about £279,000 out of those collisions. | 0:05:22 | 0:05:30 | |
A breathtaking amount of money. | 0:05:30 | 0:05:32 | |
The next step for DI Hindmarsh's team was to raid addresses | 0:05:32 | 0:05:35 | |
they suspected were connected to Zairi | 0:05:35 | 0:05:38 | |
and the raft of sham claims. | 0:05:38 | 0:05:40 | |
We couldn't initially pin what address he resided at, | 0:05:40 | 0:05:43 | |
so we decided we would execute some search warrants at two addresses | 0:05:43 | 0:05:47 | |
in north London. Those addresses had been used significantly | 0:05:47 | 0:05:50 | |
in a number of the collision claims, so it was a good place to start. | 0:05:50 | 0:05:54 | |
The magistrates gave us two search warrants | 0:05:54 | 0:05:57 | |
and we executed those both on the same day. | 0:05:57 | 0:05:59 | |
So, early on the morning of 27th March, 2013, | 0:06:01 | 0:06:04 | |
a squad of officers from the Met Police's Traffic Enforcement Department | 0:06:04 | 0:06:08 | |
executed the two warrants. | 0:06:08 | 0:06:09 | |
Dave's colleague, DC Anthony Recchia gives a briefing before the raid. | 0:06:11 | 0:06:15 | |
We're going to divide into two teams, | 0:06:15 | 0:06:17 | |
hit the two addresses, which are opposite each other. | 0:06:17 | 0:06:20 | |
There's one particular person that I'm looking for. | 0:06:20 | 0:06:23 | |
Bashir Zairi. | 0:06:23 | 0:06:24 | |
If he's identified and he's there, then I will go and arrest him. | 0:06:24 | 0:06:27 | |
Briefing over, the officers travel to the raid locations. | 0:06:28 | 0:06:31 | |
Any operation comes with risks. | 0:06:33 | 0:06:35 | |
They have no idea what they're going to find | 0:06:35 | 0:06:38 | |
or who might be lying in wait. | 0:06:38 | 0:06:40 | |
Still to come... | 0:06:40 | 0:06:42 | |
I've got a warrant to search your address. | 0:06:42 | 0:06:44 | |
..the Traffic Unit officers make a crucial discovery... | 0:06:44 | 0:06:47 | |
In a nutshell, these two addresses | 0:06:47 | 0:06:49 | |
are involved in about 100 fraudulent road traffic claims. | 0:06:49 | 0:06:53 | |
..and a personal injury claimant's story doesn't stand up. | 0:06:53 | 0:06:57 | |
We see a huge range of cases, | 0:06:57 | 0:06:59 | |
and CCTV can sometimes be a little bit 50/50, | 0:06:59 | 0:07:02 | |
but this was absolutely 100% compelling and damning. | 0:07:02 | 0:07:06 | |
Photography is a pastime that's now easier than ever | 0:07:12 | 0:07:15 | |
with smartphones and apps. | 0:07:15 | 0:07:17 | |
But take a look at this. | 0:07:17 | 0:07:18 | |
Did you know that muggins here contains a wealth of information, | 0:07:21 | 0:07:25 | |
or metadata? | 0:07:25 | 0:07:26 | |
For example, the date and time you took it | 0:07:26 | 0:07:28 | |
to the location, down to the street name. | 0:07:28 | 0:07:31 | |
It instantly puts fraud investigators in the picture | 0:07:31 | 0:07:34 | |
and can be used to shoot down false claims. | 0:07:34 | 0:07:38 | |
Simon Cook is the Head of Special Investigations at Cega, | 0:07:41 | 0:07:44 | |
a company that deals with all sorts of travel insurance claims, | 0:07:44 | 0:07:48 | |
from medical emergencies to mislaid gadgets. | 0:07:48 | 0:07:51 | |
A customer contacted us to make a claim for a lost watch, | 0:07:51 | 0:07:56 | |
which he unfortunately lost while swimming on holiday in France. | 0:07:56 | 0:07:59 | |
The woman then went into detail about the circumstances of the loss. | 0:07:59 | 0:08:03 | |
The customer told us that the incident happened on a Sunday. | 0:08:30 | 0:08:33 | |
She also said that this was a triathlon watch, | 0:08:33 | 0:08:36 | |
but she specifically made reference to not competing in a triathlon | 0:08:36 | 0:08:40 | |
at the time of losing the watch. | 0:08:40 | 0:08:42 | |
We thought that was extremely strange | 0:09:14 | 0:09:16 | |
cos we hadn't even asked a question about that. | 0:09:16 | 0:09:18 | |
Hey, there might have been a reason | 0:09:18 | 0:09:20 | |
why she wanted to set the record straight. | 0:09:20 | 0:09:22 | |
This is significant because the customer's policy | 0:09:22 | 0:09:25 | |
doesn't provide cover if she was taking part in a race. | 0:09:25 | 0:09:29 | |
To a fraud expert like Simon, it suggested that there was more | 0:09:29 | 0:09:32 | |
going on than met the eye. | 0:09:32 | 0:09:35 | |
As part of the standard claims procedure, | 0:09:35 | 0:09:37 | |
we ask the customer to provide us | 0:09:37 | 0:09:39 | |
with some form of proof-of-ownership documentation. | 0:09:39 | 0:09:42 | |
We thought she probably should have had something to support the watch, | 0:09:42 | 0:09:45 | |
as the actual item would be still within a 12-month warranty period. | 0:09:45 | 0:09:50 | |
Not an unreasonable assumption for a top-of-the-range watch. | 0:09:50 | 0:09:53 | |
The customer had a think about it and stated initially | 0:09:53 | 0:09:57 | |
that she didn't have anything at all | 0:09:57 | 0:09:59 | |
to support the ownership of the watch. | 0:09:59 | 0:10:01 | |
However, it wasn't long before they heard from her again. | 0:10:01 | 0:10:04 | |
In the meantime, things seem to have changed. | 0:10:04 | 0:10:07 | |
After a short period of time, | 0:10:07 | 0:10:08 | |
the customer sent us a completed claim form | 0:10:08 | 0:10:11 | |
and she also sent us a photograph which actually showed the box, | 0:10:11 | 0:10:15 | |
the guarantee and all other documents that related to the watch. | 0:10:15 | 0:10:18 | |
This was the last thing Simon and the team were expecting. | 0:10:18 | 0:10:22 | |
We thought that was particularly strange | 0:10:22 | 0:10:24 | |
because the customer had made a specific point during the first call | 0:10:24 | 0:10:28 | |
saying that she'd thrown away the box | 0:10:28 | 0:10:30 | |
and all the other documents relating to its purchase. | 0:10:30 | 0:10:33 | |
Although it seemed suspicious, | 0:10:33 | 0:10:35 | |
it WAS possible that it could have been an old photo taken | 0:10:35 | 0:10:38 | |
before the items were thrown away. | 0:10:38 | 0:10:41 | |
There was only one way to find out. | 0:10:41 | 0:10:44 | |
As part of our review, we check the properties, or metadata, | 0:10:44 | 0:10:48 | |
of the photograph and noted that the photograph had in fact been taken | 0:10:48 | 0:10:52 | |
after the incident date | 0:10:52 | 0:10:53 | |
and it had been taken at a different address | 0:10:53 | 0:10:56 | |
to the customer's home address. | 0:10:56 | 0:10:58 | |
Now, either the customer had access to a time machine | 0:10:58 | 0:11:01 | |
or her story was seriously off track. | 0:11:01 | 0:11:04 | |
This is when the claim was referred to our Special Investigations Unit. | 0:11:04 | 0:11:07 | |
They wasted no time looking into what the customer was doing | 0:11:09 | 0:11:12 | |
on what day during her French break. | 0:11:12 | 0:11:15 | |
We decided to conduct some internet research, | 0:11:15 | 0:11:17 | |
which quickly found the customer's name as listed as competing | 0:11:17 | 0:11:22 | |
in a race in France at the time she claimed she'd lost the watch, | 0:11:22 | 0:11:25 | |
and therefore the watch must have been lost at the time | 0:11:25 | 0:11:28 | |
she was in the triathlon. | 0:11:28 | 0:11:30 | |
This completely contradicted what the customer had told Cega. | 0:11:30 | 0:11:34 | |
The fact the customer specifically told us she wasn't taking part | 0:11:34 | 0:11:37 | |
in a triathlon tends to support that she knew | 0:11:37 | 0:11:40 | |
she wouldn't be covered for this incident. | 0:11:40 | 0:11:42 | |
No cover meant she wouldn't have been entitled to a pay-out. | 0:11:42 | 0:11:46 | |
It looked as though the claim had run its course, | 0:11:46 | 0:11:48 | |
but Cega needed to be sure. | 0:11:48 | 0:11:50 | |
Based on the level of evidence we had obtained, | 0:11:52 | 0:11:55 | |
we decided we were going to need to speak with the customer | 0:11:55 | 0:11:57 | |
by way of telephone interview. | 0:11:57 | 0:11:59 | |
They started by asking the claimant what should have been | 0:11:59 | 0:12:02 | |
an easy question - the date of the loss. | 0:12:02 | 0:12:05 | |
At this point, the customer had in fact given a different date | 0:12:05 | 0:12:09 | |
to the date that she originally provided to us | 0:12:09 | 0:12:12 | |
during the initial call. | 0:12:12 | 0:12:14 | |
We challenged the customer on this particular point, | 0:12:52 | 0:12:55 | |
regarding the date, | 0:12:55 | 0:12:56 | |
and the call went particularly quiet. | 0:12:56 | 0:12:58 | |
It was a straightforward question | 0:13:00 | 0:13:02 | |
and yet the claimant struggled to give a straight answer. | 0:13:02 | 0:13:06 | |
For fraud experts like Simon and his team, | 0:13:06 | 0:13:08 | |
umming, ahing and pausing | 0:13:08 | 0:13:10 | |
are classic signs of someone trying to buy time. | 0:13:10 | 0:13:13 | |
If a story is genuine, | 0:13:13 | 0:13:14 | |
then there's no reason for a claimant to be hesitant. | 0:13:14 | 0:13:18 | |
Things had started badly | 0:13:18 | 0:13:19 | |
and unfortunately for our claimant here, | 0:13:19 | 0:13:21 | |
they only got worse when she was asked about the photograph. | 0:13:21 | 0:13:24 | |
After further deliberation, | 0:14:07 | 0:14:09 | |
she stated her husband's friend | 0:14:09 | 0:14:11 | |
had probably taken the photograph of his own watch | 0:14:11 | 0:14:15 | |
to give to her in order to support her claim. | 0:14:15 | 0:14:18 | |
It was now clear that the watch claim's days were numbered. | 0:14:52 | 0:14:56 | |
The customer clearly misrepresented the facts about her participating | 0:14:56 | 0:15:01 | |
in the triathlon. | 0:15:01 | 0:15:02 | |
In addition to this, | 0:15:02 | 0:15:03 | |
she had provided us with false information regarding the photograph | 0:15:03 | 0:15:07 | |
she had sent us. | 0:15:07 | 0:15:08 | |
And she had nothing to say for herself when she was confronted | 0:15:08 | 0:15:11 | |
with her dishonesty. | 0:15:11 | 0:15:12 | |
She'd admitted that she had been less than honest | 0:15:37 | 0:15:40 | |
and this cast doubt on her entire story. | 0:15:40 | 0:15:43 | |
This could have had very serious consequences. | 0:15:43 | 0:15:46 | |
Cega had no choice but to call time on the watch claim. | 0:15:46 | 0:15:50 | |
We declined the claim and invoked the relevant fraud condition on the policy | 0:15:50 | 0:15:53 | |
and we didn't ever hear from the customer again. | 0:15:53 | 0:15:56 | |
To be perfectly honest, I would have been amazed if we had heard from her. | 0:15:56 | 0:15:59 | |
Most of us wouldn't dream of getting behind the wheel | 0:16:04 | 0:16:08 | |
without insurance, | 0:16:08 | 0:16:09 | |
but lots of people think differently. | 0:16:09 | 0:16:11 | |
It's estimated that there are | 0:16:11 | 0:16:13 | |
one million uninsured vehicles in the UK. | 0:16:13 | 0:16:16 | |
And hit-and-run accidents are on the rise. | 0:16:16 | 0:16:18 | |
If you've been the victim of a hit-and-run driver, | 0:16:18 | 0:16:21 | |
well, you're not on your own. | 0:16:21 | 0:16:22 | |
You can apply for compensation to the Motor Insurers' Bureau, or MIB. | 0:16:22 | 0:16:27 | |
Such applications are subject to a set of strict guidelines. | 0:16:29 | 0:16:33 | |
The MIB's Head of Technical is Paul Ryman-Tubb. | 0:16:33 | 0:16:36 | |
One of the rules within the agreement | 0:16:36 | 0:16:39 | |
relating to hit-and-run accidents is that the claim has to be made to MIB | 0:16:39 | 0:16:42 | |
within three years. | 0:16:42 | 0:16:44 | |
The majority of victims make a claim soon after an accident occurs. | 0:16:44 | 0:16:49 | |
But there are some exceptions. | 0:16:49 | 0:16:51 | |
We received first notification of this claim, February 2013. | 0:16:51 | 0:16:56 | |
The claim form described an accident in August 2010. | 0:16:56 | 0:16:59 | |
It had happened two and a half years before, | 0:16:59 | 0:17:02 | |
meaning it was still within the three-year limit. | 0:17:02 | 0:17:04 | |
So, within the claim form, | 0:17:04 | 0:17:06 | |
Simon Rule said that he was crossing the road | 0:17:06 | 0:17:08 | |
when he was hit by a vehicle that then left the scene of the accident, | 0:17:08 | 0:17:11 | |
leaving him with some very serious injuries. | 0:17:11 | 0:17:14 | |
With the claimant being so badly hurt, | 0:17:14 | 0:17:16 | |
the potential cost of compensation was considerable. | 0:17:16 | 0:17:20 | |
The claim could have been worth several hundred thousand pounds, | 0:17:20 | 0:17:22 | |
possibly up to £1 million. | 0:17:22 | 0:17:24 | |
According to the claimant, in the period since the accident, | 0:17:24 | 0:17:27 | |
his condition hadn't improved. | 0:17:27 | 0:17:31 | |
Two and a half years later, he was saying that he was still suffering | 0:17:31 | 0:17:34 | |
significantly from the injuries. | 0:17:34 | 0:17:37 | |
He was still facing surgery | 0:17:37 | 0:17:38 | |
and still needed considerable care and assistance. | 0:17:38 | 0:17:41 | |
Since the claim had been made within the three-year time limit, | 0:17:41 | 0:17:44 | |
everything appeared to be in order. | 0:17:44 | 0:17:46 | |
We had no reason to doubt the claim at all at this stage. | 0:17:46 | 0:17:49 | |
We receive lots of claims involving hit-and-run drivers | 0:17:49 | 0:17:53 | |
and this was just another claim that we received. | 0:17:53 | 0:17:55 | |
If, on an investigation, we had been satisfied that it was caused | 0:17:55 | 0:17:59 | |
by the hit-and-run driver, | 0:17:59 | 0:18:01 | |
then we would have been paying compensation to Mr Rule. | 0:18:01 | 0:18:04 | |
But that's a big if. An investigation was duly launched. | 0:18:04 | 0:18:08 | |
One of the first things that we do on almost every case | 0:18:08 | 0:18:11 | |
is apply for a copy of the police report. | 0:18:11 | 0:18:14 | |
That gives us really important information, | 0:18:14 | 0:18:16 | |
normally taken at the time or thereabouts, of the accident | 0:18:16 | 0:18:20 | |
and independently verifying exactly what's happened. | 0:18:20 | 0:18:23 | |
The response was cause for major concern. | 0:18:23 | 0:18:26 | |
The information that we received from the police | 0:18:26 | 0:18:29 | |
was alarmingly different to what we were being told. | 0:18:29 | 0:18:31 | |
What it was describing was an incident where Mr Rule's car | 0:18:31 | 0:18:36 | |
started to roll down a hill | 0:18:36 | 0:18:38 | |
because he hadn't set the handbrake correctly and, | 0:18:38 | 0:18:41 | |
in an attempt to stop it rolling away, | 0:18:41 | 0:18:43 | |
he was injured by his own vehicle. | 0:18:43 | 0:18:45 | |
He had effectively run himself over. | 0:18:45 | 0:18:47 | |
And there was no mention of another driver or a hit-and-run. | 0:18:47 | 0:18:51 | |
What's more, the incident happened much earlier than claimed. | 0:18:51 | 0:18:54 | |
Exactly a year before the accident that was reported to us. | 0:18:55 | 0:18:59 | |
Meaning it had happened three and a half years previously, | 0:18:59 | 0:19:02 | |
and was therefore outside the time limit. | 0:19:02 | 0:19:04 | |
So he had lied about the date, he had lied about the circumstances, | 0:19:05 | 0:19:09 | |
and he had lied about running himself over. | 0:19:09 | 0:19:11 | |
Something tells me nothing about this claim was true. | 0:19:11 | 0:19:15 | |
We wrote to the claimant's solicitors, | 0:19:15 | 0:19:17 | |
explaining firstly that it was out of time, and secondly, | 0:19:17 | 0:19:20 | |
that the circumstances were very different to those claimed | 0:19:20 | 0:19:24 | |
on the claim form, | 0:19:24 | 0:19:25 | |
and in fact it would appear that the incident was entirely Mr Rule's fault. | 0:19:25 | 0:19:30 | |
The claim was rejected and, predictably, | 0:19:30 | 0:19:32 | |
they heard nothing more from the solicitors. | 0:19:32 | 0:19:35 | |
But the MIB weren't prepared to park the case. | 0:19:35 | 0:19:37 | |
They passed the details to the police. | 0:19:37 | 0:19:40 | |
We were then contacted by an officer investigating the potential fraud, | 0:19:40 | 0:19:45 | |
who told us that, on initial discussions with Mr Rule, | 0:19:45 | 0:19:48 | |
he denied making a claim to MIB at all. | 0:19:48 | 0:19:50 | |
But there could be no doubt that Mr Rule had attempted to make a claim. | 0:19:50 | 0:19:55 | |
We were quite surprised to hear that he was denying making a claim. | 0:19:55 | 0:19:57 | |
He had signed a claim form and sent it into us via his solicitors. | 0:19:57 | 0:20:01 | |
To make absolutely sure, the form was sent to forensics. | 0:20:01 | 0:20:05 | |
They had carried out some analysis of the claim form, | 0:20:05 | 0:20:08 | |
found Mr Rule's fingerprints on it | 0:20:08 | 0:20:10 | |
and so they were continuing with their prosecution. | 0:20:10 | 0:20:13 | |
He was brought to justice and ended up with a suspended sentence | 0:20:13 | 0:20:17 | |
of two years and ordered to pay a fine of £600 and court costs. | 0:20:17 | 0:20:21 | |
And there was a further irony. | 0:20:21 | 0:20:24 | |
It later transpired that Mr Rule's vehicle | 0:20:24 | 0:20:26 | |
should never have been on the road in the first place, | 0:20:26 | 0:20:29 | |
because it was in fact uninsured. | 0:20:29 | 0:20:30 | |
We, in fact, have received claims | 0:20:30 | 0:20:32 | |
from the owners of some of the parked vehicles that it hit | 0:20:32 | 0:20:35 | |
as it rolled down the road. | 0:20:35 | 0:20:36 | |
For Paul Ryman-Tubb, the biggest concern | 0:20:36 | 0:20:39 | |
is the knock-on effect of fraud. | 0:20:39 | 0:20:41 | |
MIB and insurers have to put time and resource and effort | 0:20:41 | 0:20:46 | |
into investigating fraudulent claims. | 0:20:46 | 0:20:50 | |
All of that resource could, of course, | 0:20:50 | 0:20:51 | |
be better spent compensating genuine victims. | 0:20:51 | 0:20:54 | |
Still to come... | 0:21:02 | 0:21:03 | |
Fraudsters can no longer walk away from false claims. | 0:21:05 | 0:21:08 | |
Where we do get an award for damages, | 0:21:08 | 0:21:10 | |
we will look to go after a fraudster's assets, | 0:21:10 | 0:21:14 | |
his home, his car, even an attachment to earnings | 0:21:14 | 0:21:17 | |
for those that actually do work. | 0:21:17 | 0:21:19 | |
And a woman pays a high price for her greed. | 0:21:19 | 0:21:22 | |
This is a case where we have a lady | 0:21:22 | 0:21:25 | |
who is of a reasonable standing in the community. | 0:21:25 | 0:21:28 | |
She now has a tarnished record. | 0:21:28 | 0:21:29 | |
Earlier, the Met's Roads & Policing Unit were investigating | 0:21:35 | 0:21:39 | |
a suspected crash-for-cash fraudster called Bashir Zairi. | 0:21:39 | 0:21:43 | |
They are now ready to move in and put a stop to his scam. | 0:21:43 | 0:21:46 | |
Two addresses. One of the premises is a semidetached house. | 0:21:48 | 0:21:52 | |
It's just a car park on the left here. | 0:21:52 | 0:21:55 | |
And the other premises is one of these flats in here. | 0:21:55 | 0:21:57 | |
It's 7am when they arrive, | 0:21:57 | 0:21:59 | |
and both of the addresses are hit simultaneously. | 0:21:59 | 0:22:05 | |
Good morning. | 0:22:05 | 0:22:06 | |
Police. | 0:22:06 | 0:22:07 | |
Morning, police. Let us in? | 0:22:07 | 0:22:09 | |
We've got a warrant to search your address. | 0:22:09 | 0:22:11 | |
Go upstairs. Go. | 0:22:11 | 0:22:13 | |
At both locations, the inhabitants cooperate | 0:22:13 | 0:22:15 | |
and allow the officers entry. | 0:22:15 | 0:22:17 | |
We'll just have a quick look, and if I'm happy that it's safe, | 0:22:17 | 0:22:21 | |
we will let you get up and get dressed on your own, is that OK? | 0:22:21 | 0:22:23 | |
Unfortunately, there's no sign of the main suspect. | 0:22:23 | 0:22:26 | |
The person we're looking for is not present. | 0:22:26 | 0:22:28 | |
But other people are. | 0:22:28 | 0:22:30 | |
There is correspondence which relates to that person | 0:22:30 | 0:22:33 | |
that we're looking for the premises, | 0:22:33 | 0:22:35 | |
so we are just going to start our search now. | 0:22:35 | 0:22:37 | |
With Zairi not present, | 0:22:37 | 0:22:38 | |
the success of the raid rests | 0:22:38 | 0:22:40 | |
on whether the team can find documentary evidence | 0:22:40 | 0:22:43 | |
to strengthen the case against him. | 0:22:43 | 0:22:45 | |
Hello? All right. | 0:22:45 | 0:22:47 | |
Police officer. Anyone else in this room with you? | 0:22:47 | 0:22:50 | |
We are looking for any documentation relating to the claims. | 0:22:50 | 0:22:53 | |
That could be physical documentation, bits of paper, | 0:22:53 | 0:22:56 | |
it may well be e-mails or documents that have been stored digitally, | 0:22:56 | 0:23:01 | |
so that could well be on laptops or computers. | 0:23:01 | 0:23:04 | |
So far, the search has turned up | 0:23:04 | 0:23:06 | |
lots of potential pieces of evidence. | 0:23:06 | 0:23:09 | |
20 minutes into the raid, DI Hindmarsh | 0:23:09 | 0:23:11 | |
has made an important discovery. | 0:23:11 | 0:23:14 | |
We've identified another address, | 0:23:14 | 0:23:16 | |
which officers are just on their way to now, | 0:23:16 | 0:23:18 | |
to find hopefully our subject. | 0:23:18 | 0:23:19 | |
If all goes well, | 0:23:19 | 0:23:21 | |
they will soon have their main suspect | 0:23:21 | 0:23:23 | |
and several sacks of evidence. | 0:23:23 | 0:23:26 | |
We've seized all the media equipment, laptops, computers, | 0:23:26 | 0:23:30 | |
mobile telephones, because that will assist us. | 0:23:30 | 0:23:33 | |
In a nutshell, these two addresses are involved in about 100 fraudulent | 0:23:33 | 0:23:38 | |
-road traffic claims. -With the search over, the officers return to base. | 0:23:38 | 0:23:42 | |
The evidence collected on the raid | 0:23:43 | 0:23:45 | |
meant that they could prove the connection | 0:23:45 | 0:23:47 | |
between the properties and Zairi, | 0:23:47 | 0:23:49 | |
even when he was using a slightly different identity. | 0:23:49 | 0:23:52 | |
Because they were derivatives of his name, | 0:23:52 | 0:23:55 | |
it could have been open to him to say that that was not him. | 0:23:55 | 0:23:57 | |
But the paper documents, | 0:23:58 | 0:24:00 | |
they proved the link with Mr Zairi to those addresses. | 0:24:00 | 0:24:05 | |
It was exactly what the team had set out to find. | 0:24:05 | 0:24:08 | |
In terms of the two raids, they were very successful. | 0:24:08 | 0:24:13 | |
The fact that we managed to recover some significant evidence. | 0:24:13 | 0:24:16 | |
And there was also a result for the officers trailing Zairi. | 0:24:16 | 0:24:19 | |
We were able to find another address in North London | 0:24:19 | 0:24:22 | |
that a couple of our uniformed colleagues who were present with us, | 0:24:22 | 0:24:25 | |
who left for that address and were able to arrest and detain Bashir | 0:24:25 | 0:24:29 | |
that morning. So it was a good bit of work. | 0:24:29 | 0:24:31 | |
But this was just the start. | 0:24:32 | 0:24:35 | |
It takes years, unfortunately, | 0:24:35 | 0:24:37 | |
from the inception of a case and the conclusion at the court. | 0:24:37 | 0:24:42 | |
In the months and years that followed the raid, | 0:24:42 | 0:24:44 | |
Dave and his team worked steadily to build a case against Zairi. | 0:24:44 | 0:24:47 | |
It transpired that he had attempted | 0:24:48 | 0:24:50 | |
to gain a considerable amount of money. | 0:24:50 | 0:24:53 | |
He had claimed about £313,000 | 0:24:53 | 0:24:58 | |
but actually only got around £279,000 himself. | 0:24:58 | 0:25:03 | |
Zairi eventually appeared at court | 0:25:03 | 0:25:05 | |
and all the hard work that had been put into the investigation paid off. | 0:25:05 | 0:25:09 | |
He pleaded guilty. He realised that the evidence against him | 0:25:09 | 0:25:14 | |
was overwhelming. | 0:25:14 | 0:25:15 | |
Taking into account how much money he'd tried to claim, | 0:25:15 | 0:25:18 | |
the judge came down hard. | 0:25:18 | 0:25:19 | |
Mr Zairi was sentenced to three years' imprisonment. | 0:25:22 | 0:25:25 | |
A significant custodial period | 0:25:26 | 0:25:28 | |
and something that is becoming more common. | 0:25:28 | 0:25:31 | |
The courts have become more alive | 0:25:31 | 0:25:33 | |
to induced commissions and the sentencing has started to go up. | 0:25:33 | 0:25:38 | |
This is down to the realisation that crash for cash | 0:25:38 | 0:25:41 | |
-isn't just about the money. -There is also the human cost. | 0:25:41 | 0:25:45 | |
People are going out there, causing crashes. | 0:25:45 | 0:25:47 | |
They do not know what the outcome is going to be. | 0:25:47 | 0:25:50 | |
Someone could be seriously injured or, in fact, killed. | 0:25:50 | 0:25:54 | |
With Zairi behind bars, | 0:25:54 | 0:25:55 | |
the force is in the process of recovering the money | 0:25:55 | 0:25:58 | |
that was paid out. | 0:25:58 | 0:25:59 | |
There could have been serious consequences | 0:26:00 | 0:26:03 | |
if the supermarket hadn't realised something was wrong. | 0:26:03 | 0:26:06 | |
Had they not noticed the issue and come to the Met Police, | 0:26:06 | 0:26:10 | |
then that would have continued, | 0:26:10 | 0:26:12 | |
and who knows where it would have led to? | 0:26:12 | 0:26:14 | |
Now, like most people, I am guilty of having a good old moan | 0:26:24 | 0:26:27 | |
about health and safety. But at the end of the day, | 0:26:27 | 0:26:30 | |
it's there to protect us. | 0:26:30 | 0:26:31 | |
And if we are injured because our employers | 0:26:31 | 0:26:34 | |
haven't provided a safe working environment, then it's right | 0:26:34 | 0:26:37 | |
that we are entitled to compensation. | 0:26:37 | 0:26:39 | |
But it's wrong when this is exploited by fraudsters. | 0:26:39 | 0:26:42 | |
Scott Clayton is Zurich's claims fraud and investigations manager | 0:26:49 | 0:26:53 | |
and he recently dealt with a workplace injury case. | 0:26:53 | 0:26:57 | |
The claim that we received from Ms Quansah-Okoe | 0:26:57 | 0:26:59 | |
was in respect of personal injury. | 0:26:59 | 0:27:00 | |
She claimed that she fell within the canteen of Lambeth College | 0:27:00 | 0:27:04 | |
on what she says was a wet floor. | 0:27:04 | 0:27:07 | |
According to her, this was no mere stumble. | 0:27:07 | 0:27:10 | |
The injury was quite serious that she was telling us she suffered. | 0:27:10 | 0:27:13 | |
It was soft tissue injuries, damage to her wrist, leg, ankle and, | 0:27:13 | 0:27:18 | |
believe it or not, she actually said that she had chipped a tooth. | 0:27:18 | 0:27:21 | |
The claimant alleged she had required | 0:27:21 | 0:27:23 | |
a considerable amount of treatment. | 0:27:23 | 0:27:26 | |
Ms Quansah-Okoe suggested that she had been to hospital | 0:27:26 | 0:27:28 | |
straight after the accident. | 0:27:28 | 0:27:29 | |
She was off work for two or three weeks, | 0:27:29 | 0:27:32 | |
and she had six bouts of physiotherapy treatment. | 0:27:32 | 0:27:35 | |
All this added up to a tidy sum. | 0:27:35 | 0:27:38 | |
We estimated the claim to be worth in the region of £8,000. | 0:27:38 | 0:27:42 | |
So quite a considerable sum of money. | 0:27:42 | 0:27:44 | |
But then again, she was saying that she was considerably injured. | 0:27:44 | 0:27:47 | |
With so much money on the line, | 0:27:47 | 0:27:49 | |
the claimant was asked to provide more detail | 0:27:49 | 0:27:51 | |
about how the accident had actually happened. | 0:27:51 | 0:27:54 | |
She mentioned that the floor was wet, | 0:27:54 | 0:27:56 | |
and she only noticed that the floor was wet | 0:27:56 | 0:27:58 | |
when she actually felt the wetness on her dress. | 0:27:58 | 0:28:01 | |
So she was saying that the college canteen floor was wet | 0:28:01 | 0:28:05 | |
and that caused her to slip and be injured. | 0:28:05 | 0:28:08 | |
According to her version of events, | 0:28:08 | 0:28:10 | |
the college had been negligent and was therefore liable. | 0:28:10 | 0:28:13 | |
On the surface, this looked like a claim that, certainly, | 0:28:13 | 0:28:16 | |
we would consider paying, because of the nature of the injuries, | 0:28:16 | 0:28:19 | |
and what caused them. | 0:28:19 | 0:28:20 | |
What made this case different was that Lambeth College, | 0:28:20 | 0:28:23 | |
when they submitted the claim, also enclosed some CCTV footage. | 0:28:23 | 0:28:28 | |
The footage changed everything. | 0:28:28 | 0:28:30 | |
Once the insurance company had looked at the CCTV | 0:28:31 | 0:28:35 | |
and looked at what Ms Quansah-Okoe was claiming, | 0:28:35 | 0:28:38 | |
they had obvious concerns, | 0:28:38 | 0:28:39 | |
so they passed the claim on to IFED for investigation. | 0:28:39 | 0:28:43 | |
IFED is the City of London Police's | 0:28:43 | 0:28:45 | |
insurance fraud enforcement department, | 0:28:45 | 0:28:48 | |
headed up by DCI Oli Little. | 0:28:48 | 0:28:50 | |
He reviewed the footage. | 0:28:50 | 0:28:52 | |
I think, given the injuries that she is claiming for, | 0:28:52 | 0:28:54 | |
we would expect to see someone at least lose their footing | 0:28:54 | 0:28:57 | |
really suddenly and fall down. | 0:28:57 | 0:28:58 | |
One of those ones where you look at it and you go, "Ooh! | 0:28:58 | 0:29:01 | |
"That must have hurt." But there is nothing like that here. | 0:29:01 | 0:29:04 | |
And judging by the injuries, she has given herself quite a battering. | 0:29:04 | 0:29:07 | |
So the fact that she said she chipped a tooth, | 0:29:07 | 0:29:09 | |
she must have slammed her face on the floor. | 0:29:09 | 0:29:12 | |
That sort of footage isn't normally that pleasant to watch. | 0:29:12 | 0:29:15 | |
What we did see was something entirely different. | 0:29:15 | 0:29:18 | |
So different that it completely turned the case on its head. | 0:29:18 | 0:29:22 | |
She walks into the canteen fairly briskly. | 0:29:22 | 0:29:26 | |
Then she notices that the chap's mopping the floor. | 0:29:26 | 0:29:30 | |
So what she's probably done, in my opinion, | 0:29:30 | 0:29:33 | |
is that during that period of time when she slows down, | 0:29:33 | 0:29:36 | |
she's thought herself, | 0:29:36 | 0:29:37 | |
"Here's an opportunity for me to invent an incident | 0:29:37 | 0:29:41 | |
"and claim compensation." | 0:29:41 | 0:29:42 | |
And that's where the idea's come into her head. | 0:29:44 | 0:29:46 | |
And, as you can see, she approaches that post. | 0:29:46 | 0:29:49 | |
The bags come down really carefully, down to the knees, | 0:29:50 | 0:29:54 | |
and then there's that sort of final flourish at the end. | 0:29:54 | 0:29:56 | |
That's nothing like what you would expect to see | 0:29:56 | 0:29:59 | |
if somebody's got injuries head to toe, broken teeth, | 0:29:59 | 0:30:03 | |
it's just complete invention. | 0:30:03 | 0:30:05 | |
The footage completely undermined the case and her credibility. | 0:30:05 | 0:30:09 | |
When we first saw the footage, | 0:30:09 | 0:30:11 | |
you can't help but chuckle at its ridiculous attempts | 0:30:11 | 0:30:15 | |
to invent a claim. | 0:30:15 | 0:30:17 | |
But there was a serious side to the situation, too. | 0:30:17 | 0:30:20 | |
The CCTV was absolutely crucial | 0:30:20 | 0:30:22 | |
because it told us exactly what happened | 0:30:22 | 0:30:24 | |
and, in effect, demonstrated that it was a fraudulent claim. | 0:30:24 | 0:30:27 | |
As far as Zurich was concerned, | 0:30:27 | 0:30:29 | |
her chance of a pay-out was now absolutely zero. | 0:30:29 | 0:30:33 | |
So, we shared the footage with her solicitors | 0:30:33 | 0:30:37 | |
and the claim was discontinued. | 0:30:37 | 0:30:40 | |
But the consequences didn't end there. | 0:30:40 | 0:30:42 | |
If Ms Quansah-Okoe thought she could just walk away from the claim, | 0:30:42 | 0:30:46 | |
she was wrong. | 0:30:46 | 0:30:48 | |
Such was the ridiculous nature of this claim | 0:30:48 | 0:30:50 | |
and the evidence that we had, | 0:30:50 | 0:30:52 | |
we felt this was definitely a good case to refer to IFED. | 0:30:52 | 0:30:55 | |
IFED agreed, and decided to pay the claimant a little visit. | 0:30:55 | 0:31:00 | |
When we arrested Ms Quansah-Okoe, I think she was quite shocked. | 0:31:00 | 0:31:03 | |
Maybe she thought, like a lot of people do, | 0:31:03 | 0:31:05 | |
"What's the worst that can happen if I put this claim in? | 0:31:05 | 0:31:08 | |
"They will just say no." She didn't expect to get arrested. | 0:31:08 | 0:31:11 | |
She didn't expect to get interviewed by the police. | 0:31:11 | 0:31:14 | |
But that's exactly what happened. | 0:31:14 | 0:31:16 | |
Ms Quansah-Okoe was eventually charged | 0:31:16 | 0:31:19 | |
with fraud by false representation. | 0:31:19 | 0:31:21 | |
You would have thought that she may have decided that the game was up, | 0:31:21 | 0:31:26 | |
but, no, undeterred, she proceeded right through a criminal trial. | 0:31:26 | 0:31:29 | |
The case was heard at the Old Bailey. | 0:31:29 | 0:31:32 | |
She pled not guilty, despite the overwhelming evidence against her. | 0:31:32 | 0:31:37 | |
With her star turn caught on CCTV, the outcome was never in doubt. | 0:31:37 | 0:31:42 | |
And a jury found her guilty and she was sentenced | 0:31:42 | 0:31:45 | |
to 80 hours' community service | 0:31:45 | 0:31:47 | |
and ordered to pay £500 towards the cost of running the case. | 0:31:47 | 0:31:50 | |
Perhaps she'll spend that doing some mopping. | 0:31:50 | 0:31:53 | |
Or perhaps working on her acting skills. | 0:31:53 | 0:31:55 | |
We see a huge range of cases, | 0:31:56 | 0:31:58 | |
and CCTV can sometimes be a little bit 50/50, | 0:31:58 | 0:32:01 | |
but this was absolutely 100% compelling and damning. | 0:32:01 | 0:32:06 | |
Insurers like Zurich are determined | 0:32:06 | 0:32:08 | |
to put a stop to the compensation culture. | 0:32:08 | 0:32:10 | |
For us, it was the conviction that mattered, | 0:32:10 | 0:32:13 | |
because it sends a message that people who try and invent these type | 0:32:13 | 0:32:17 | |
of incidents to claim compensation should be warned that, | 0:32:17 | 0:32:20 | |
if you're caught, | 0:32:20 | 0:32:21 | |
then you end up feeling the full force of the law. | 0:32:21 | 0:32:23 | |
Now, in normal circumstances, | 0:32:28 | 0:32:30 | |
fraudsters wanting to submit fake accident claims | 0:32:30 | 0:32:33 | |
have to shell out for actual motor policies. | 0:32:33 | 0:32:36 | |
These upfront costs can be a deterrent in themselves, | 0:32:36 | 0:32:39 | |
so free cover is particularly appealing to scammers. | 0:32:39 | 0:32:43 | |
This is especially true of drive-away policies. | 0:32:43 | 0:32:46 | |
These policies allow scammers to claim pay-outs for accidents | 0:32:49 | 0:32:52 | |
that never happened involving cars they never owned. | 0:32:52 | 0:32:55 | |
Sarah Hill is the head of fraud at lawyers BLM. | 0:32:57 | 0:33:00 | |
You could take out seven days' free comprehensive motor insurance cover, | 0:33:00 | 0:33:06 | |
which would allow you to, for instance, | 0:33:06 | 0:33:08 | |
if you are purchasing a new vehicle, obtain that vehicle, be covered, | 0:33:08 | 0:33:12 | |
insured on it to drive it away. | 0:33:12 | 0:33:14 | |
And that was on the basis that you would then go on | 0:33:14 | 0:33:17 | |
-to look for a full quote. -In other words, | 0:33:17 | 0:33:20 | |
the seven-day policies function as a type of marketing tool, | 0:33:20 | 0:33:23 | |
not unlike a free sample. | 0:33:23 | 0:33:25 | |
Tom Gardiner is the head of fraud at Aviva, | 0:33:27 | 0:33:29 | |
one of the insurers providing this type of product. | 0:33:29 | 0:33:32 | |
When the data surrounding some of these seven-day policies | 0:33:33 | 0:33:36 | |
was analysed, his team noticed an alarming trend. | 0:33:36 | 0:33:39 | |
The initial thing that alerted us to this case was our claim centre | 0:33:40 | 0:33:44 | |
noticed that the same person was reporting multiple claims. | 0:33:44 | 0:33:49 | |
We then quickly went on to link other claims | 0:33:49 | 0:33:52 | |
to the same telephone number, | 0:33:52 | 0:33:54 | |
e-mail address and credit card. | 0:33:54 | 0:33:56 | |
It turned out a whole network of people was involved. | 0:33:56 | 0:33:59 | |
Suspicions were also raised because the accidents all happened | 0:33:59 | 0:34:03 | |
within the brief, seven-day timeframe. | 0:34:03 | 0:34:05 | |
Obviously very unlikely that the same person | 0:34:05 | 0:34:08 | |
would have so many accidents | 0:34:08 | 0:34:10 | |
in such a short space of time. | 0:34:10 | 0:34:12 | |
Either they were incredibly unlucky, or there was something more sinister | 0:34:12 | 0:34:16 | |
going on. When they took a closer look at the accidents, | 0:34:16 | 0:34:19 | |
they made a startling discovery. | 0:34:19 | 0:34:22 | |
This was all just a paper exercise. | 0:34:22 | 0:34:24 | |
No accidents had taken place. | 0:34:24 | 0:34:27 | |
They were all fabricated. | 0:34:27 | 0:34:28 | |
This is how it worked - | 0:34:28 | 0:34:30 | |
claims would be submitted | 0:34:30 | 0:34:31 | |
where a car insured on a seven-day policy was | 0:34:31 | 0:34:34 | |
said to have gone into the back of another. | 0:34:34 | 0:34:36 | |
The driver of the other car would then claim compensation | 0:34:36 | 0:34:40 | |
for personal injury on the free seven-day policy. | 0:34:40 | 0:34:43 | |
And the bill for the fraudulent claim was footed by the insurers. | 0:34:43 | 0:34:47 | |
Not only were the accidents fake, | 0:34:47 | 0:34:50 | |
the gang had never owned the cars involved. | 0:34:50 | 0:34:53 | |
They would be identifying genuine vehicles. | 0:34:53 | 0:34:57 | |
They just didn't belong to them. | 0:34:57 | 0:34:58 | |
Instead, they sourced registration numbers | 0:34:59 | 0:35:02 | |
from car auction websites and lied to the insurers, | 0:35:02 | 0:35:05 | |
saying they owned they cars when they didn't. | 0:35:05 | 0:35:07 | |
The free policies meant there was no initial financial outlay, | 0:35:09 | 0:35:12 | |
so there was nothing to stop them making more claims, | 0:35:12 | 0:35:15 | |
mostly for whiplash. | 0:35:15 | 0:35:17 | |
73 claims in total for injury and damage | 0:35:17 | 0:35:20 | |
were presented to the insurance company. | 0:35:20 | 0:35:23 | |
What would have been paid out if these claims had been genuine | 0:35:23 | 0:35:26 | |
was in the region of £500,000. | 0:35:26 | 0:35:28 | |
They had tried to cover their tracks | 0:35:28 | 0:35:31 | |
by using stolen identities and credit cards, | 0:35:31 | 0:35:33 | |
but inevitably, there were loose ends. | 0:35:33 | 0:35:36 | |
They were all purporting to be different individuals, | 0:35:36 | 0:35:38 | |
yet you would have the same credit card | 0:35:38 | 0:35:40 | |
being used to set those policies, | 0:35:40 | 0:35:42 | |
which is very unusual. | 0:35:42 | 0:35:43 | |
Interestingly, the same e-mail address | 0:35:43 | 0:35:46 | |
between the non-fault parties and the fault parties. | 0:35:46 | 0:35:50 | |
We even had, on one accident, | 0:35:50 | 0:35:52 | |
the same address being used across two different policies, | 0:35:52 | 0:35:56 | |
so there was lots of things to link all of the accidents together. | 0:35:56 | 0:36:00 | |
Since the fraudsters didn't own the cars | 0:36:00 | 0:36:02 | |
and the accidents never happened, | 0:36:02 | 0:36:03 | |
Tom's team were able to identify and stop the suspect claims. | 0:36:03 | 0:36:08 | |
Despite the fact that we had avoided all the claims, | 0:36:08 | 0:36:10 | |
we were not content to let it rest there. | 0:36:10 | 0:36:13 | |
Aviva worked closely with lawyers BLM | 0:36:13 | 0:36:15 | |
to come up with a strategy to bring the fraudsters to justice. | 0:36:15 | 0:36:19 | |
We were advised that we had strong evidence on a number of cases | 0:36:19 | 0:36:22 | |
and we decided to bring a civil action against 15 of the claimants. | 0:36:22 | 0:36:26 | |
What we looked to do was to recover the costs that the insurance company | 0:36:26 | 0:36:31 | |
had incurred in investigating these claims | 0:36:31 | 0:36:34 | |
and also defending these claims, | 0:36:34 | 0:36:36 | |
because they were entitled to recover back | 0:36:36 | 0:36:39 | |
what they had lost as a result of this scam. | 0:36:39 | 0:36:41 | |
A civil action was then brought against the 15 claimants. | 0:36:41 | 0:36:45 | |
A lot of them didn't take legal representation. | 0:36:45 | 0:36:49 | |
They effectively buried their heads in the sand. | 0:36:49 | 0:36:51 | |
I think they were hoping this would just go away. | 0:36:51 | 0:36:53 | |
They were certainly not expecting such a proactive strategy | 0:36:53 | 0:36:56 | |
by the insurance company. | 0:36:56 | 0:36:58 | |
A proportion admitted their guilt. | 0:36:58 | 0:37:00 | |
But some persevered, and the case went to trial. | 0:37:00 | 0:37:03 | |
None of them had put in a defence to the claim, | 0:37:03 | 0:37:06 | |
so it was simply a matter of the judge assessing | 0:37:06 | 0:37:09 | |
what damages the insurance company should be awarded. | 0:37:09 | 0:37:12 | |
Nine times out of ten, that would have been the end of it. | 0:37:12 | 0:37:15 | |
But not in this case. | 0:37:15 | 0:37:17 | |
It was quite interesting, actually, the trial, | 0:37:17 | 0:37:19 | |
because it wasn't without its drama. | 0:37:19 | 0:37:23 | |
One of the individuals that we brought a claim against | 0:37:23 | 0:37:26 | |
turned up with his wife and tried to protest his innocence. | 0:37:26 | 0:37:30 | |
The judge actually told him that he found the evidence overwhelming | 0:37:30 | 0:37:34 | |
in this case, in terms of the fraud. | 0:37:34 | 0:37:36 | |
Unsurprisingly, the result didn't exactly go their way. | 0:37:36 | 0:37:40 | |
We were pleased with the outcome of the hearing. | 0:37:40 | 0:37:42 | |
We got judgments against 15 people | 0:37:42 | 0:37:45 | |
and we were awarded costs and damages | 0:37:45 | 0:37:48 | |
of over £90,000. | 0:37:48 | 0:37:50 | |
The fraudsters were hit where it hurts the most - | 0:37:50 | 0:37:53 | |
in the pocket. | 0:37:53 | 0:37:54 | |
And where we do get an award for damages, we will look to go | 0:37:54 | 0:37:58 | |
after a fraudster's assets, his home, his car, | 0:37:58 | 0:38:02 | |
even an attachment to earnings for those that actually do work. | 0:38:02 | 0:38:05 | |
It's quite frequently our experience that the fraudsters are | 0:38:05 | 0:38:08 | |
full-time criminals and don't actually hold down a full-time job. | 0:38:08 | 0:38:12 | |
It's a stark warning to fraudsters | 0:38:12 | 0:38:13 | |
who think they might be able to get away with a similar scam. | 0:38:13 | 0:38:17 | |
In this case, not being content with avoiding the claims, | 0:38:17 | 0:38:20 | |
we have gone on in taking further action against the claimants, | 0:38:20 | 0:38:24 | |
which we hope will act as a deterrent in the future. | 0:38:24 | 0:38:26 | |
Moving house is one of the most stressful things you can do. | 0:38:31 | 0:38:34 | |
But imagine how much worse it is if your possessions get damaged. | 0:38:34 | 0:38:39 | |
When this happened to one unlucky woman, | 0:38:39 | 0:38:41 | |
she got in touch with her insurer to make a claim. | 0:38:41 | 0:38:43 | |
Mike Brown is Direct Line Group's head of counter-fraud intelligence. | 0:38:49 | 0:38:54 | |
The policy owner in this case was moving home and, in transit, | 0:38:54 | 0:38:59 | |
she reported the fridge freezer and some perishables were damaged. | 0:38:59 | 0:39:04 | |
Two iPads, a television and some equine equipment, ie a saddle, | 0:39:04 | 0:39:10 | |
the spine of the saddle, had been broken. | 0:39:10 | 0:39:12 | |
The claim on this occasion was approximately £4,000. | 0:39:12 | 0:39:15 | |
It was particularly unfortunate that all the items damaged in the move | 0:39:15 | 0:39:19 | |
were of high value. | 0:39:19 | 0:39:21 | |
The claims handler asked the policyholder | 0:39:22 | 0:39:25 | |
what she'd done with the damaged items. | 0:39:25 | 0:39:27 | |
The two iPads she'd given to a family member | 0:39:27 | 0:39:30 | |
with alleged electrical expertise. | 0:39:30 | 0:39:33 | |
They deemed that both the iPads were beyond repair | 0:39:33 | 0:39:37 | |
and had disposed of them. | 0:39:37 | 0:39:40 | |
With the iPads binned, | 0:39:40 | 0:39:41 | |
there was no way to independently check the level of damage. | 0:39:41 | 0:39:44 | |
As part of the standard claims procedure, | 0:39:46 | 0:39:48 | |
she was asked if she had any paperwork | 0:39:48 | 0:39:50 | |
for the other electrical items. | 0:39:50 | 0:39:53 | |
She was unable to produce an invoice for the fridge freezer. | 0:39:53 | 0:39:57 | |
She said she was given that as a gift. | 0:39:57 | 0:39:59 | |
And there were question marks about the other items | 0:39:59 | 0:40:02 | |
that had allegedly been damaged. | 0:40:02 | 0:40:04 | |
What this policy owner was unable to do | 0:40:04 | 0:40:07 | |
was to produce any meaningful documentation | 0:40:07 | 0:40:11 | |
which, in the claims handler's view, had any veracity. | 0:40:11 | 0:40:16 | |
However, the one item that was backed up with an invoice | 0:40:16 | 0:40:19 | |
was the saddle. | 0:40:19 | 0:40:21 | |
These concerns meant that her past claims history | 0:40:21 | 0:40:24 | |
was "trotted" out for inspection. | 0:40:24 | 0:40:26 | |
It soon transpired that this particular claimant | 0:40:26 | 0:40:28 | |
had a previous claim two years previous | 0:40:28 | 0:40:32 | |
in respect of equine products and suspicions were then raised | 0:40:32 | 0:40:37 | |
in respect of, again, a saddle was being claimed, | 0:40:37 | 0:40:42 | |
and it's not a cheap product. | 0:40:42 | 0:40:44 | |
That is putting it mildly. | 0:40:44 | 0:40:46 | |
The previous claim came to over £10,000 for two saddles. | 0:40:46 | 0:40:50 | |
This made both claims worth a grand total of £14,000. | 0:40:50 | 0:40:56 | |
The money at stake warranted close examination of the paperwork. | 0:40:56 | 0:40:59 | |
Concerns were raised when we looked at the invoices | 0:41:01 | 0:41:03 | |
and receipts that were put forward. | 0:41:03 | 0:41:05 | |
There were some basic errors. | 0:41:05 | 0:41:07 | |
Lack of address, some professional grammatical errors, | 0:41:07 | 0:41:10 | |
numerical errors. | 0:41:10 | 0:41:11 | |
There could only be one conclusion. | 0:41:12 | 0:41:15 | |
The receipts were fraudulent. | 0:41:15 | 0:41:17 | |
This is a case of greed, | 0:41:18 | 0:41:20 | |
a means to secure funds from the insurance company, | 0:41:20 | 0:41:24 | |
Direct Line Group, | 0:41:24 | 0:41:25 | |
to replace products that they didn't want to pay for themselves. | 0:41:25 | 0:41:29 | |
But if the policyholder thought she could ride off into the sunset | 0:41:29 | 0:41:33 | |
with no consequences, she was sorely mistaken. | 0:41:33 | 0:41:37 | |
Mike and his team passed on their findings to the authorities. | 0:41:37 | 0:41:40 | |
The policy owner was arrested and interviewed | 0:41:40 | 0:41:44 | |
in respect of the 2013 claim and the 2014 claim, | 0:41:44 | 0:41:48 | |
where she has made a full and frank admission of guilt. | 0:41:48 | 0:41:52 | |
She has been given a police caution with a condition that she repays | 0:41:54 | 0:41:59 | |
the £14,000 that has been paid by Direct Line Group to her. | 0:41:59 | 0:42:04 | |
So the odds have dramatically changed | 0:42:04 | 0:42:06 | |
and she is now going to have to refund her undeserved pay-outs | 0:42:06 | 0:42:10 | |
for the two claims. | 0:42:10 | 0:42:11 | |
Unfortunately, this is something that Mike sees all too often. | 0:42:11 | 0:42:15 | |
Most people who seek to defraud an insurance company | 0:42:15 | 0:42:19 | |
will utilise the complaints procedure | 0:42:19 | 0:42:21 | |
as a tactic to frustrate the ongoing investigation. | 0:42:21 | 0:42:25 | |
It is deemed as a known tactic. | 0:42:25 | 0:42:27 | |
They view that as, "Well, if they are dealing with a complaint, | 0:42:27 | 0:42:30 | |
"they will take their eye off the ball." | 0:42:30 | 0:42:32 | |
Clearly, we did not. | 0:42:32 | 0:42:33 | |
If anything, it spurred them on. | 0:42:33 | 0:42:36 | |
This is a case where we have a lady who is of a reasonable standing | 0:42:36 | 0:42:40 | |
in the community. She now has a tarnished record. | 0:42:40 | 0:42:43 | |
The message is quite clear. | 0:42:43 | 0:42:46 | |
Just cos you may have succeeded previously, | 0:42:46 | 0:42:48 | |
doesn't mean to say you will succeed again. | 0:42:48 | 0:42:50 | |
And you may find yourself worse off than when you started. | 0:42:50 | 0:42:53 | |
From organised criminal gangs to exaggerated household claims, | 0:42:58 | 0:43:02 | |
insurance fraud hits all of us in the pocket. | 0:43:02 | 0:43:05 | |
But instead of getting away with it, | 0:43:05 | 0:43:07 | |
more and more of these fraudsters have been claimed and shamed. | 0:43:07 | 0:43:11 |