Student sentenced for £14,000 university insurance scam

A student has been sentenced after being found guilty of falsely claiming compensation on items lost during a university study trip.

In November 2014, Alison Ntim, 23, was a student at London Metropolitan University in Holloway Road when she went on a study trip to Venice as part of her interior design degree.

The university took out insurance to cover all students on the trip.

A few months after returning from Venice, Ntim put in a claim for an iPhone. City of London’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) officers believe this was a genuine claim, as she made it on behalf of herself and provided correct documentation and proof of purchase.

However, in the months following, she continued to make claims for lost items, but on behalf of other people who she said were also on the trip.

She made six other claims, totalling over £14,000 for items including a Cannon camera, an Apple Mac Book Pro and a Breitilng watch.

The insurance company for the university noticed some discrepancies with the claims, leading them to believe they were fraudulent and so referred the case to IFED.

IFED officers investigated with the university and confirmed that only one of the other six had ever been a student.

When making the claims, instead of hand writing the forms, which she did for her own claim, Ntim typed it out, providing her own address and nominating her own bank account for receiving the compensation.

On 17 March 2017, she presented herself to police by voluntary attendance.

Out of the all the six fraudulent claims, three had been paid into her account.

On Friday 16 February 2018, she was given an eight-month suspended sentence, ordered to do 150 hours of community service and given a 15-day rehabilitation requirement.

Police Detective Constable Daryl Fryatt, who led IFED’s investigation, said: 

“Instead of using this study trip to help benefit her in her degree, Ntim saw it is an opportunity to try and exploit her university and deceive the insurance company. Not only did she use details of a fellow student to substantiate her claims, but she also made up five others.  

“Through our investigative work, we were able to see through her lies and identify that she had made several fraudulent claims. 

“As a former student, this should act as an important lesson to Ntim, and for anyone else who is thinking of making a false claim – it is a criminal offence and one that you will be punished for.”