In a shocking discovery, Malaysian police claim to have dismantled an insurance fraud syndicate that signed up unsuspecting individuals for life insurance policies, then staged their murders as accidents to claim the policy payouts.
Johor police chief CP M. Kumar revealed that the syndicate came to light during the investigation of a 38-year-old man’s murder in Kulai, initially reported as an accident on May 6.
“The investigation revealed that the syndicate killed the victim so it could claim compensation from a life insurance policy of the deceased,” Kumar said.
The syndicate’s method involved selecting random individuals, often those without family or close ties, and purchasing a US$100,000 (500,000 Malaysian Ringgit) life insurance policy in their names without their knowledge. Once the policy was approved, the syndicate would orchestrate the individual’s death to appear as a fatal accident, the insured sum being the equivalent of seven times the average annual wage in Malaysia.
During a Press conference at the Johor police headquarters, Kumar explained: “After the documentation process and the victim’s insurance policy is approved by the (real) insurance company, the syndicate then schemes to kill the contributor with a plot in which the victim meets a fatal accident.”
Police have arrested eight men, aged between 23 and 49, in connection with the case and are actively searching for other members of the syndicate still at large.
The staged ‘accident’ occurred at 4:40am when the victim, riding a Honda EX5 motorcycle, was deliberately struck by two cars and a motorcycle on Jalan Senai-Seelong in Kulai. Following the collision, four individuals attacked the victim before he was fatally run over by an Isuzu truck that happened to be passing.
Kumar explained that after the victim’s death, a suspect within the syndicate attempted to file an insurance claim through an agent who was also a member of the group.
However, the claim process was halted when the Johor police Criminal Investigation Department uncovered the syndicate’s operations.
The case is being investigated under Section 302 of the Penal Code, which covers murder. Four individuals have been charged in the Kulai Magistrate’s Court on June 19, while the other four suspects have been released on bail.
Malaysia recently stopped the death penalty being compulsory for murder, but the sentence is still available to judges in extreme cases.
