Two siblings and their friend carried out £18k crash for cash scheme where the victim was a pregnant woman
Three fraudsters have been sentenced after being found guilty of carrying out a ‘crash for cash’ scheme, forcing a pregnant woman to hit their vehicle.
Kuljit Bains, 52, of Birmingham, Amanjit Bains, 35, of Ealing, and Avenesh Patel, 36, of Southall all pleaded guilty at Birmingham Crown Court on 13 May 2019 and were then sentenced on Friday (14 June).
Both Bains’ received six months in prison, suspended for 18 months along with 150 hours of community service. Patel received four months in prison, also suspended for 18 months, but has not been given any community service.
The crash
Following a referral from Hastings Insurance, the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department carried out a criminal investigation.
Hastings were suspicious over the claims made related to a collision on a motorway roundabout in West Bromwich.
IFED found that the pregnant victim had manoeuvred behind the fraudsters’ car on the roundabout.
The fraudsters then applied the brakes suddenly, causing the woman to crash into the back of them.
A heavy goods vehicle (HGV), who saw the incident, approached them and pretended that he’d caught the collision on his dash-cam. When the HGV driver later provided a statement to IFED, he said he’d lied about having footage to quell the situation, as he had strong suspicions that it was a ‘crash for cash’ plan.
Mr Bains appraently became visibly agitated after the HGV driver told them he had footage of the collision.
He even altered the mobile number given to him by the HGV driver before he passed it onto the victim.
Fortunately, the HGV driver noticed this and provided the victim with the correct details so that she could contact him at a later date.
Both the victim and the HGV driver said that there was only ever two people in the car, meaning Patel had put in his claim as a ‘ghost’ passenger, another popular techniqhue among crash fraudsters in a bid to inflate the claim.
Hastings Direct received personal injury claims from both Bains’ and Patel. Each of them stated that they’d either suffered injuries to their spine, upper back or shoulders. The total value of the claims was £18,000, but the insurer rejected the claims.
Relief
Detective constable Kevin Hughes, who the led the investigation for IFED, said: “These fraudsters put the safety of the victim and other drivers around them at serious risk. It’s a relief to know that no-one was injured, including the victim. Thankfully she and her baby were unhurt.
“Thanks to the initial referral by Hastings Direct and their support throughout our investigation, we were able to ensure these fraudsters were brought to justice.”
Matt Stevens, director of counter fraud at Hastings Direct, said: “We are proud of our ongoing work with the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department to bring fraudsters to justice. By investigating these crimes and through our ongoing investment in counter fraud operations, we will continue to protect innocent customers.”
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