"Cash for crash" mastermind ordered to pay £300,000

Police have successfully confiscated £150,000 from Mohammed Rashid after he was found guilty in 2008 of arranging fake car accidents for fraudulent insurance claims.

The former garage owner, who is currently serving time, was ordered to pay police within six months at the Bradford Crown Court hearing. Rashid has also been ordered to pay a further $150,000.

If he fails to pay on time, Rashid will face a further two year, fourth month jail sentence.

West Yorkshire detectives and the Insurance Fraud Bureau launched the inquiry into the Rashid’s company after becoming suspicious of a number of claims being lodged by them with multiple insurers.

Rashid and his co-conspirators, who were also sentenced, had been staging accidents and damaging vehicles to make the claims.

Glen Marr, director of Insurance Fraud Bureau said: “The insurance industry should not be viewed as an easy target for organised fraudsters. This latest example demonstrates that insurance fraudsters not only carry the very real risk of custodial sentences, but exposure to confiscation proceedings.”

“Insurers who suffer losses at the hands of fraudsters will also not hesitate to utilise civil legal action to recover losses, further underlining industry intolerance to fraud, and ultimately protecting the interests of genuine insurance customers,” said Marr.

Detective Sergeant Dave Marston of Airedale and North Bradford Police said: “This is a very substantial and significant confiscation for our POCA team in Keighley and really does hammer the message home that we do now have the tools to make sure crime does not pay.”

The confiscated money will be reinvested into the national police budget, as well as in projects to help disencourage young people from criminal behaviour.