Mother, son nabbed for faking death in $228k fraud

London insurance fraud detectives have arrested a 45-year-old woman who allegedly faked her own death to obtain insurance money and hid in Canada.

 

According to the insurance fraud enforcement department (IFED) of the City of London Police, the unidentified woman faked her own death in Zanzibar, Tanzania to enable her family to make a £140,000 (C$228,000) false life insurance claim in her name.

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The woman’s son and his guardian made the insurance claim in May 2016, saying she had died in a car crash in Zanzibar. They provided documents including a death certificate and road traffic accident reports.

 

The insurance company tried to verify the woman’s death, but found the documents to be suspicious. They then decided not to pay the claim and referred the case to IFED, which launched an investigation.

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Detectives arrested and interviewed the son, aged 18 and from Walsall, England, who admitted that his mother was alive and living in Canada.

 

The police then contacted the woman and asked her to return to the UK. She was arrested at Perry Barr police station in Birmingham.

 

The woman and her son have been bailed to return to the police station in April. The son’s guardian aged 24 and also from Walsall was interviewed under caution.