The man made five fraudulent claims across three policies, worth £8,216
He put in claims for his wife’s engagement ring and also for lost luggage
It was discovered that he’s used the same receipts and images for the claims
A man has been sentenced for making several fake travel and jewellery claims, including the loss of his partner’s engagement ring.
On Friday 2nd August 2019, Warren Wills, 35, of Margate, was sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court and given a 12-month community order to complete 240 hours unpaid work. He had pleaded guilty to five counts of fraud by false representation at the same court.
The City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED), who led on the investigation, discovered that Wills had taken out three different insurance policies and made six false claims, worth a total of £8,216.
These claims included four for the loss of his partner’s engagement ring, while the other two claims were for lost luggage following trips to Ibiza and Mallorca.
IFED uncovered Wills’ fraudulent activity as he’d used the same contact details, including email, payment address and phone number when submitting the false claims.
Wills also used photos and receipts to substantiate his claims, and it was revealed that he submitted identical copies to the insurers, both for the engagement ring and items in his lost luggage (items included headphones, clothes and aftershave).
Detective Constable Haywood, who the led the investigation for IFED, said:
“Despite Wills’ attempts to use identical photos and receipts to try and fool the insurers, through our investigative work we were able to see through his lies and identify that his claims were fraudulent.
“This sentencing should act as a warning to others who believe that, like Wills, they can defraud insurance companies with deceit and false claims – you will be caught and justice will be served."
Text messages on his phone also helped expose the claims as false. Wills sent a text to a friend who he’d been on holiday with and asked him for the email booking confirmation so he could use it to try and substantiate his claim. It read:
‘You able to send me the email booking confirmation of the holiday or something to show I've been…as I need to claim on the insurance for couple of things! Might as well seen as it's zero excess.’