Holiday hustler caught after £61,000 Covid scam

A fraudster who pocketed more than £61,000 by falsely claiming he had to cancel pre-booked holidays due to Covid-19 restrictions has been sentenced by Inner London Crown Court this month (February 2025).

Bromley-based, 37-year-old Dominic Ayo Williams, also known as Ayodele Oladuti, made 25 fake travel and home insurance claims over 18 months, defrauding two insurers out of a total £61,380.

Williams submitted fraudulent claims to Axa between September 2020 and May 2021, fabricating travel cancellations and forging invoices from a legitimate accommodation provider.

Seven claims, worth £24,536, were paid out before Axa’s fraud investigators flagged the activity as suspicious and referred the case to the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (Ifed) in June 2021.

The subsequent Ifed investigation found that Williams had never booked the flights or accommodation he had claimed for. He was therefore arrested on 2 November 2021 – and later admitted to the fraud.

Insurer Aviva additionally found that Williams had made 15 further fraudulent claims on its policies between March 2020 and September 2021.

This included reporting a Louis Vuitton bag containing luxury goods as stolen. Nine of these claims submitted to Aviva were paid out, amounting to £36,844.

When Aviva confronted Williams about his past fraud conviction in relation to the claims made with Axa, Williams attempted to mislead Aviva with forged court documents, falsely stating that his conviction had been overturned. Aviva confirmed the documents were fake and referred the matter to Ifed.

On 29 November 2023, Williams pleaded guilty to 16 counts of fraud by false representation and to one charge of using a false instrument with intent at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.

He was sentenced at Inner London Crown Court on 3 February 2025 to two years’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, and was handed a Serious Crime Prevention Order (SCPO) to help curb future offending.

Sentencing

Williams’ SCPO, enforced by the City of London Police’s Lifetime Offender Management Unit (LOMU), places strict restrictions on his financial activities and electronic devices. Breaching this order carries a penalty of up to five years in prison and an unlimited fine.

Confiscation proceedings will now commence to recover the funds paid out in fraudulent claims.

Detective constable Dan Weller at Ifed, said: “Williams systematically exploited Covid-19 travel disruption for his own financial gain. His sentencing and upcoming confiscation proceedings demonstrate our commitment to bringing insurance fraudsters to justice.”

Carl Mather, special investigations manager at Aviva, added: “Williams cynically exploited the pandemic to submit fraudulent claims. We continue to invest in fraud prevention to protect honest customers and combat insurance fraud at all levels.”