A claims management company (CMC) has been shut down and two fraudsters jailed after the Insurance Fraud Bureau and Metropolitan Police exposed a ‘crash for cash’ fraud ring.
Appearing at Southwark Crown Court on Friday (1 February 2013), Andre Malagiac was sentenced to 12 months in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to defraud. Ion Vaduva received a four month prison sentence and had his car seized for his role as a stooge driver who deliberately caused crashes.
Officers from the Met Police Traffic Unit launched the investigation in November 2011 following intelligence that a CMC, Kami Claims Management, was organising induced accidents across London. Malagiac, Kami’s company secretary, helped to orchestrate the scams in collusion with stooge drivers, who were sent out to deliberately cause crashes with unsuspecting motorists, typically on slip roads or roundabouts.
The Metropolitan Police arrested Malagiac and Vaduva in June 2012, and working alongside the IFB and Ministry of Justice (MOJ), executed search warrants across London, including at Kami’s premises.
Ben Fletcher, Head of Operations at the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB), said: ”A joint investigation by the Metropolitan Police and IFB exposed a potentially multi-million pound fraud production line, which was masked behind the seemingly-legitimate front of a claims management company. Guilty pleas demonstrate the quality of evidence gathered by the Metropolitan Police, MOJ and insurance industry, whilst the convictions should send a clear message to fraudsters.”
In 2012, the IFB published a new report on ‘crash for cash’, which linked 1 in 7 personal injury claims to suspected organised fraud networks.
Ben Fletcher added: “The IFB was set-up to tackle organised fraud, which costs the insurance industry almost £400 million and inflates premiums for honest policyholders. The IFB’s job is to stop these scams at the source by taking out the criminal gangs plotting the frauds. We are currently working with police forces up and down the country on 44 major investigations into organised fraud.”
DI Dave Hindmarsh from the Metropolitan Police Service’s Traffic Unit said: “This operation demonstrates yet again the success of the Metropolitan Police’s partnership working. With the help of the IFB, MOJ and a number of insurance companies, we were able to bring these criminals to justice and stop many more innocent motorists from falling victim to this type of fraud.”
