Grimsby businessman jailed over £114,000 insurance scam

A Grimsby businessman has been jailed for faking and forging a number of invoices and documents as part of a £114,000 insurance fraud linked to his kitchen sales business.

The fraud was uncovered by investigators from NFU Mutual and the investigation was passed on to detectives from the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED).

Clive Thomas Wade, of Ulceby, North Lincolnshire, was found guilty of fraud by false representation following a four-day trial at Grimsby Crown Court and was sentenced on Friday 24th June to three years’ imprisonment.

In December 2010, Wade took out a business insurance policy with NFU Mutual for his kitchen sales business Hits [Brigg] Limited. The day after he took out the policy, Wade then made a claim for water damage at the business premises in Brigg. Wade claimed that the kitchen showroom and premises had flooded and damaged all the display kitchens that were there, as well as causing loss of earning due to the premises having to be closed and refitted.

An initial payment was made by NFU in July 2011 for £50,000 and Wade was asked by the insurer to provide original invoices for the damaged display units that he said were from a local supplier.

A further interim payment for £10,000 was made to Wade in February 2012 with a final settlement offer of £60,000 (i.e. that amount already paid out) made to Wade. At this stage NFU Mutual were still awaiting invoices as Wade had only provided quotes and estimates for the items he claimed were damaged, but no proof he had ever purchased or had possession of them.

However, the settlement offer was rejected by Wade and he claimed his total losses were in excess of £100,000, which didn’t even include his estimates for loss of earnings. In August 2013, after further correspondence between Wade’s solicitors and NFU Mutual, Wade provided a bundle of documents including invoices and receipts for the various display items he was claiming for.

By this stage, NFU Mutual had grown increasingly suspicious of the circumstances and appointed an investigator to verify the authenticity of Wade’s claim. When they contacted the suppliers the invoices were supposedly from, they found that they were complete fakes.

It emerged that one company had sold items to Wade, but they were worth in the region of £800, whereas Wade was claiming they cost thousands.

The case was referred to IFED and when detectives arrested Wade, they seized documents and computers from his address. Officers found the original documents that Wade had then altered to create the fake invoices and also found copies of the fakes invoices and other documents in the process of being altered.

After further investigations, he was charged with fraud by false representation and was found guilty by unanimous verdict at Grimsby Crown Court following the four-day trial. IFED financial investigators have also begun confiscation proceedings to recover funds paid to Wade by NFU Mutual.

Detective Constable Aman Taylor, from the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department said:

“With the weight of evidence we had it was clear that Wade deliberately set out to defraud NFU Mutual for tens of thousands of pounds. This sentence sends a strong message to anyone thinking that insurance fraud is a quick or easy way to make money. Fraud is a serious crime and there are serious consequences for those who commit it.”

Commenting on the case, Rob Spiegelhalter, Claims Fraud Manager at NFU Mutual said: “As a mutual insurer, being tough on fraud helps us to protect our members and reduce the cost of premiums. Fraud is not a victimless crime, we all pay the financial cost by premium increases and we have a duty to stop it. In this case, we were able to assist the IFED investigation and expose claims fraud from one of our members, which thankfully is very rare.

 

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