Ten individuals have been sentenced for defrauding insurers of over £320,000 through staged or fabricated road traffic collisions in the West Midlands. The organised crime group, operating primarily in Walsall, pleaded guilty following an investigation by the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED), supported by the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB).
Ringleaders Raju Patel, 40, received a five-year prison sentence, and Kamlesh Vadukul, 36, was jailed for four years and one month. Eight other individuals involved received sentences ranging from a 19-week prison term to community orders or conditional discharges.
The investigation revealed Patel and Vadukul orchestrated the submission of false claims to insurers and a repair finance service. The group caused deliberate accidents or fabricated incidents, then submitted fraudulent repair invoices. Recruited individuals were paid to act as claimants and were given scripts for reporting the incidents.
Jon Radford of the IFB welcomed the justice served, highlighting the danger and distress caused by crash for cash scams. Detective Sergeant Adam Maskell at IFED emphasised the risk to motorists and the increased premiums resulting from such fraud, stating that these crimes do not go unnoticed.
The group’s methods included causing deliberate rear-end collisions and fabricating incidents. They even impersonated a legitimate repair company. IFED’s investigation found that Patel and Vadukul submitted repair finance claims totalling over £275,000. Over £321,000 was paid into a bank account controlled by Vadukul and then transferred to Patel. Confiscation proceedings will follow to recover the funds.
Source: Insurance Fraud Bureau website
