A credit card firm employee from Luton has been placed behind bars after making fraudulent claims on her company’s income protection insurance policy.
Balbinder Mahil, 45, of Beech Wood Road, claimed that she was unable to work for a credit card firm following her maternity leave when in fact she was working as a call centre operative elsewhere, according to the City of London Police.
Mahil faces eight months of imprisonment and has been ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work and pay over £6,000 in compensation, costs and victim surcharges.
In July 2013, Mahil was due to return from maternity leave to her credit card company. However, she never went back, claiming that she was unfit to work due to stress.
After providing doctors’ notes to support her claim, Mahil received payments through her employer’s income protection insurance policy, which was provided by insurer Unum. Payments between July 2013 and May 2015 – when her contract was finally terminated – totalled £13,171.
However, an anonymous letter was sent to her employer revealing that Mahil had been employed as a call centre operative for a healthcare company since August 2014 while she was still receiving income protection payments.
Insurance fraud detectives from the police found that Mahil received around £6,000 of payments under the income protection scheme while working at the call centre.
In September 2015, Mahil admitted to police officers her wrongdoings. She was charged in May 2016 with fraud by false representation and later pleaded guilty to the offence.
Detective Constable Jamie Kirk from the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department said:
“Mahil knew that she was being dishonest and she should have told her employer she was able to work again,” said detective constable Jamie Kirk from the insurance fraud enforcement department.
“There is a perception that this sort of thing is acceptable but our message is that not only is it dishonest, it is also illegal,” he added.
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