Would-be fraudster sentenced after IFED investigation

A mother who forged her doctor’s signature to make multiple insurance claims for a cancelled family holiday to Lanzarote has been handed a suspended jail term.

Joanne Hunt, 28, admitted to submitting claims totalling £11,070 to seven insurers after calling off her family’s trip when her daughter became ill.

The Staffordshire woman failed to declare on any of the claim forms that she had more than one insurance policy covering the holiday, and faked her doctor’s signature on six of the forms.

Hunt’s con started to unravel when Aria Assistance identified a claim she had submitted to them as fraudulent.

The insurer alerted the Insurance Fraud Investigators Group, and when the other attempted frauds came to light, the case was referred to the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED).

IFED detectives travelled to Staffordshire to interview Hunt after which she was summonsed to City of London Magistrates’ Court and pleaded guilty to seven counts of fraud by false representation last week. Hunt got a 14-week jail term, suspended for two years. She will also have to complete 100 hours’ unpaid work and pay £85 court costs.

IFED detective constable Julian Brown said: “Hunt used her daughter’s illness and a cancelled family holiday as a means to try and con thousands of pounds from insurers. This may have seemed like a fool-proof plan at the time but now, with a criminal record against her name, she may think it was one of the worst decisions she has ever made.

“Hunt’s sentence highlights once again how IFED is working with industry to bring insurance fraudsters to justice across England and Wales.”