Serial household claims fraudster jailed for two years

A Walsall man who made a string of bogus household claims for robberies and missing possessions has been jailed for two years.

Alexander Brasil, 31, conned Aviva out of £24,000 over a six-month period after using false names at real addresses to make the claims.

Brasil, of Kinnery Street, Walsall, made a further £14,000 worth of unsuccessful claims.

Aviva became suspicious about his repeated claims and referred the case to Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) for investigation in January this year. He was subsequently arrested at a hotel in Walsall the following month.

Brasil pleaded guilty to 14 counts of fraud and was sentenced at the Central Criminal Court in London on Thursday.

Detective chief inspector Dave Wood said: “Brasil was a serial fraudster who used a variety of tricks to con thousands of pounds out of the insurance industry. He clearly believed he was too clever to be caught and that the good times would keep on rolling.

“The good work of IFED has brought an end to his criminal enterprise and his two-year prison sentence sends out a very clear message that insurance fraud is a serious crime with serious consequences.”

Aviva’s head of loss prevention Tom Gardiner said: “This case illustrates that claims fraud is not just a motor insurance problem. Aviva was able to identify the fraud despite steps taken to conceal the fraudster’s identity and to present multiple different claims on policies held at different addresses, and then to work closely with IFED to achieve another successful prosecution.”