Ghost brokers sentenced after using launderette as a cover up

Two fraudsters involved in an elaborate ghost broking operation have received custodial sentences for conspiracy to defraud insurance companies.

Following a joint investigation between the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB), the City of London Police’s Major Proactive Crime Team and IFB’s insurer members, Raza Mir and Muhammed Asif were arrested at their Tottenham launderette in February 2017.

While they may have looked like they were running a legitimate laundry business, in reality, they were playing dirty by conducting an elaborate insurance fraud scam.

Mir was the orchestrator and with Asif assisting, providing unregulated insurance to the local community, which included a local Albanian drug gang.

Visitors would leave the launderette with fraudulent insurance cover obtained using fake names and addresses. For the gang, this meant that they were able to evade police suspicion by ensuring that their vehicles showed up as insured and that their fake identities could be confirmed with the support of the fraudulent insurance policies.

The investigation also found that the fraudsters were also forging no claims discount letters in order to obtain cheaper insurance.

When the Crime Team carried out its search warrant, they were able to seize 263 no claims discount (NCD) letters. the IFB and its insurer members were able to prove that at least 172 of the documents were fraudulent.

The IFB and Crime Team linked over 100 policies to the scam, which eventually led to the arrest of Mir and Asif. The IFB also revealed thousands of insurance quotes that they were able to connect directly to both men.

On Thursday, Mir was sentenced to three years and seven months in prison, while Asif was given 16 months.

Discussing the case, Jason Potter, IFB’s head of investigations commented: “Mir and Asif used a seemingly innocuous business to front their fraudulent activities and thanks to our collaboration with City of London Police, along with our insurer members, we were able to hang these fraudsters out to dry.

“This case goes to demonstrate that organised insurance fraud can often be linked to other criminal activity and this behaviour must be stopped. We remain committed to stamping out insurance fraud and hope that today’s sentencing serves as a stark warning to would-be criminals that fraud doesn’t wash with us, that they will get caught and they will get punished.”