Briefing: Ifed celebrates 2024 custodial sentence success as it firms up 2025 operations

By Tom Hill

The last year has been extremely positive for the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (Ifed).

Our relationships with key partners, particularly our integrated working relationships with colleagues at the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB), have continued to prosper.

Early engagement on investigations, coordinated communications and a close working relationship between my management team and their counterparts at the IFB have shown that we’re stronger working together to protect victims of insurance fraud and retain confidence in the industry.

Ifed’s work throughout 2024 complemented the government’s overarching Fraud Strategy, which was first launched in June 2023.

The strategy has three clear pillars centred around pursuing fraudsters, blocking fraud and empowering the public to mitigate fraud.

Progress in 2024

Reflecting the government’s stance, Ifed changed its approach to tackling serious organised crime in 2024.

Through measures put in place by detective inspector Simon Klust, who has been deputy head of Ifed since September 2023, the unit set out four new thematic target areas that broadly mirror the top threats we see throughout the industry.

This has allowed the team to better inform the national picture of serious organised crime and target our activity towards the highest harm threats. As a result, the average number of disruptions completed by Ifed increased from 16 to 37 per quarter in 2024.

We also worked hard last year to protect victims of insurance fraud by sharing our expertise.

In November, for example, our officers worked with Border Force and the National Crime Agency at Heathrow Airport to disrupt insurance fraud related to high value watches.

This operation was based on intelligence which showed that high value watches reported as stolen or linked to insurance fraud are often taken overseas via airports to be resold.

Officers therefore provided advice to hundreds of passengers around the checks that should be carried out to ensure they do not unwittingly buy a watch that has been stolen or previously used in a bogus insurance claim.

We also worked with insurers and organisations based in locations ranging from Swansea to Slovenia.

Despite the well publicised pressures on the criminal justice system and prison estate, Ifed finished 2024 having secured three strong custodial prison sentences.

In June 2024, Ifed confirmed that Gary Whipps was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment after pocketing £46,125 from bouncy castle hire companies and amusement parks.

August 2024 then saw Ifed announced that Joel Mtebe was sentenced to 20 months in prison for repeatedly submitting a series of fake home insurance claims to insurer RSA, while Edwin White was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment following a complex trial that involved multiple defendants at Gloucester Crown Court. This was confirmed in December 2024.

Fraud focused future

This is the last column I will write for Insurance Times as head of Ifed – I am leaving the unit to pursue another opportunity within the City of London Police. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Ifed, both as an investigator and head of the unit.

Investigating fraud is not always easy and Ifed’s fantastic team always works hard to deliver balanced, ethical investigations to secure justice for victims of insurance fraud. As part of my new role, I will be working hard to ensure that the department’s partnership with industry continues to flourish.

The year ahead will be an exciting one for Ifed as we expand Operation Mirage, our dedicated online disruptions capability that launched in December 2020, to maximise every disruption opportunity in our high harm threat areas.

We will also be participating in Operation Henhouse 4, a nationwide policing intensification against fraud led by the City of London Police and National Crime Agency in February.

The first iteration of Operation Henhouse took place in early 2023.