Jailed fraudster exploited terror attacks and Grenfell to claim £180,000

A fraudster has been jailed today after she exploited the tragic events at Grenfell, Borough Market and Manchester Arena to make more than 50 fake claims.

Ruksana Ashraf, 44, of Polwarth Gardens, Edinburgh, was sentenced at Inner London Crown to three years in prison for fraud by false representation and money laundering offences. 

Start of investigation

Ashraf was first brought to the attention of IFED by RSA, who found similarities in various claims that had been made against different policies.

Despite each policy apparently being taken out by a different person with a different address, the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) were able to confirm Ashraf’s home address following a data protection request. The group of bank accounts used to create the policies and receive funds from the claims were all the same.

Ahsraf claimed for lots of high-value items such as jewellery and designer clothing.

Arrest and search

IFED began investigating, and Ashraf was arrested and interviewed in 2016 but responded ’no comment’ to every question.

While IFED continued to investigate, fraudulent claims were identified against Aviva Insurance and Legal and General (L&G) after they noticed a spike in claims for loss or theft of high value items, predominantly in the Edinburgh area.

All claims had similarities to those submitted to RSA. They were taken out using names of people who don’t exist and don’t reside at the address.

Plus, the claims themselves were once again for theft or loss of luxury items including jewellery and designer clothing.

IFED then secured a warrant to search the property, and found paperwork relating directly to the false claims to RSA, Aviva and L&G.

Tragic exploitation

While conducting the search, investigators found material for claims they weren’t originally aware of.

Investigators also found material which led them to believe that she was gearing up to make more fraudulent claims.

In total, Ashraf took out in excess of 70 policies and made over 50 fraudulent insurance claims. The collective amount that she attempted to steal through her fraudulent activity was £179,000, with £50,000 being paid out to her. 

Ruthless manipulation

DC Pete Gartland, who led the investigation for IFED: “It’s clear that Ashraf is a heartless and selfish individual. She had no qualms in exploiting these tragic events to make a financial gain, showing no empathy for the families of those who lost their lives in some horrific circumstances.

“Her fraudulent activity also impacts the general public, causing insurance premiums to rise for everyone.

“Insurance fraud is a serious crime and this case, including the sentencing, shows that it is not taken lightly by IFED, the insurance industry or the criminal courts.”

Matt Smyth, technical and Major Loss claims Manager for Legal and General, said: “We (Legal & General) are pleased that we were able to identify Ruksana Ashraf’s fraudulent activity and bring her to the attention of the Police.

”Insurance fraud is a major issue and this case is an example of how Insurers, the Police and the Courts are working well together to make it clear that fraud will not be tolerated and that there are consequences for this behaviour. We are committed to proactive investigation of all insurance fraud for the benefit of protecting our genuine customers.”

John Beadle, Head of Counter Fraud and Financial Crime, RSA:

“This woman ruthlessly manipulated insurance companies to feed her own greed, taking out insurance policies in false names and then making up completely fictitious claims, exploiting insurers’ desire to do the best for their customers by settling claims as quickly as possible.

“In order to ensure she got money to which she was not entitled as quickly as possible, she even cynically made up claims connected to various terrorist incidents and other disasters, such as the MEN arena, Borough Market and even Grenfell Tower.

”She did this knowing that insurers were likely to quickly settle claims in order to minimise further stress for their customers. On the spectrum of cynical and calculated dishonesty in respect of insurance fraud, this must rank amongst the very worst kind. We are grateful to IFED for their support in bringing this woman to justice.”

Tom Gardiner, Head of Fraud at Aviva, said: “This is an appalling case where Ashraf exploited tragic public events to cloak her frauds. I am very proud of our team at Aviva who identified Ashraf’s crimes and then worked with other insurers and IFED to bring her to justice. In total, we avoided 15 claims made by Ashraf. Insurers have effective mechanisms for sharing data and intelligence and this case shows that if you do commit fraud then its increasingly likely that you’ll be caught and prosecuted.”