- Over 100 claims were connected to the gang, impacting 16 different insurers
- 14 people charged as part of the fraud which had a potential cost of over £500,000
The trial of a large-scale crash for cash gang, whose activities were exposed following an investigation between the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) and Derbyshire Police, has today concluded with five defendants found guilty.
In total, 14 individuals were charged with Conspiracy to Defraud, seven of which pleaded guilty at the start of the trial. This includes the individuals who orchestrated the fraud and owned the businesses as well as the claimants who provided their details for use as part of the fraud.
During the trial, Nottingham Crown Court heard that Mohammed Asghar, Dharminder Nagra and Davinder Nagra were targeting innocent members of the public in order to deliberately cause crashes. To exploit the insurance industry the gang were then submitting fake claims to insurers for compensation.
The gang centred round Derby Enterprise and TTM Recovery, who were found to be submitting fraudulent personal injury and storage claims for the crashes. Derby Enterprise, an accident management company linked to Dharminder and Davinder Nagra, was used as a professional enabler to corroborate the fraudulent claims and increase their value.
The fraud came to light when one of the individuals who worked for the gang became aware of the suspicious activity and decided to stage a burglary at the business address to highlight the activity to the Police. During their investigation of the burglary and search of the property, the Police found evidence linked to insurance fraud and IFB were contacted to support the investigation.
The evidence seized as part of the search was then passed to IFB for further analysis to determine the true extent of the fraud. Using its analytical software, IFB connected the gang to 111 claims going back to 2011. The impact was felt across the industry with 16 different insurers having exposure to the gang’s activity.
Ben Fletcher, Director of the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB), said: “Crash for cash has a real impact on society and puts innocent members of the public at risk of serious injury. There is not only a physical impact but also significant cost associated, as we estimate crash for cash costs the industry £336m per year. This puts a financial burden on insurers and ultimately premium-paying motorists.
“We know that fraudsters are fuelled by greed and will try to exploit the industry at every opportunity. IFB, alongside the insurance industry and police, are determined to uncover cross-industry insurance fraud and today’s convictions send a clear message - if you are committing fraud the risk of being caught and prosecuted is very real.”