The insurance industry may be breathing a sigh of relief today as one of the most prolific fraud gangs in the UK finds itself behind bars.
It is estimated that a gang of 19 men and women caused around £1 million in damage as they scammed insurance companies by faking a series of car accidents and allowing accomplices to sue for alleged injuries.
According to a
Daily Mail report, the gang operated from an accident management firm in Hertfordshire that was run by Mohammed Zubair Jamil. Over a period spanning September 2009-August 2014, a total of 13 crashes were investigated on the M1, M25 and A406 with the publication writing that the operation is estimated to have caused around 300 accidents in total.
In the bulk of the cases, a car would brake heavily in traffic causing another vehicle, driven by a gang member and with several passengers on board, to slam into the rear. An innocent motorist would then go into the back of the car being driven by the gang.
However, the ‘lead’ car included a telematics box and its data was analysed by APU Ltd, a fraud investigation company, which found evidence deemed so compelling that further prosecution witnesses were not needed.
According to estimates, Operation Kernow, as it was nicknamed, is thought to have saved around £1.1 million in claims for the car insurance industry.
The gang, including Jamil, received prison sentences ranging from 16 months to four and a half years with Judge Fiona Barrie remarking that they had no consideration for the public.
“In short, this was a well-planned and carefully executed operation involving orchestrated collisions on public roads involving innocent members of the public,” she is quoted as saying.
“The idea that crash for cash frauds are victimless crimes has to be rebuffed immediately.
“The impact of this offending on the insurance industry is substantial and this in turn leads to routine increases in insurance premiums for the wider public.”
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