Six people have been sentenced after a bogus insurance claims company conned solicitors out of almost £150 000.
The result follows a two-year joint operation involving Greater Manchester Police and the Insurance Fraud Bureau.
The following three people pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud at Manchester Crown Court, Crown Square:
- Irfan Manzoor, (born 6/6/75) of HMP Manchester was sentenced to two and a half years in prison.
- Javaid Hussain Shah (born 19/9/80) of Carrgreen Close, Manchester was sentenced to 12 months in prison.
- Amjad Hussain (born 10/12/76) of Baycroft Grove, Northern Moor was sentenced 12 months in prison.
The following three were found guilty of conspiracy to commit fraud following a trial:
- Safdar Ali (born 26/1/77) of Dunley Close, Belle Vue was jailed for four years.
- Vahida Iqbal (born 20/12/78) of Bamford Street, Oldham was jailed for two years.
- Kadija Nasser Ahmed (born 11/6/89) of Outwood Road, Heald Green was jailed for 15 months.
In April 2009, the United Kingdom Borders Agency carried out a raid at an apartment in the Beetham Tower in Manchester city centre, as part of an operation to combat illegal immigration and found that it was being used as an office.
Documents and items were seized under suspicion that the activities were fraudulent and Greater Manchester Police was informed. The criminal investigation was handed to GMP’s fraud unit, which was assisted by the IFB.
Inquiries established that the apartment was being used to co-ordinate the activities of a registered company called North West Claims – set up as a claims management company that would handle personal injury claims following car accidents.
The cases would be referred to solicitors firms to progress, and the solicitors would need to pay a fee to the claims management company. The defendants went to considerable effort to make solicitors believe their activities were legal: Company branding was set up, the company was registered and authorised through the relevant channels and a website was also launched.
However, detectives also found equipment that made fake passports, documentation and national insurance numbers, which suggested the claimants were made up people. The collisions in question had been completely fabricated. The scam also ensured that when a solicitors firm did take the case on, the telephone numbers given to them would divert to the defendants, who would then pretend they were the claimants the solicitors wanted to speak to. Using a number of aliases, Irfan Manzoor declared himself the director of the company on documentation.
Manzoor also opened the company bank account that referral fees were paid into. Inquiries into this bank account showed that over a period of five months, £135 000 had been paid in and £131 000 had been withdrawn under the name of one of Manzoor’s aliases, Lia Ali.
More than £18 000 of referral fees were paid into a second bank account. In an effort to assess the damage done to the solicitors’ firms who had been manipulated, detectives tried to make contact with the victims. Nineteen firms have come forward, from whom £139 500 had been fraudulently obtained.
Computer examination records linked the defendants to the computers on which documents were created. Detective Constable Martyn Cunningham said: “The full extent of the damage caused by the bogus enterprise is not known, as not all of the law firms affected have come forward.
“Furthermore, we do not know how much time was wasted by solicitors working on these completely fictitious cases.
“This was a fraud that was large in scale, meticulously planned, deliberate in its intention, directly targeted at its victims and tenaciously executed to obtain maximum revenue. This was, at the heart of it, a case of organised crime.
“These sentences send a clear message to any fraudster; despite their masquerade, they will be tracked down, fully investigated and brought to justice.
“It also has to be said that the vast majority of claims management companies are legitimate and genuine, and have a well earned reputation with the solicitors and claimants they work with.”
Glen Marr, Insurance Fraud Bureau director, said: “This shows the positive results that can be achieved by the insurance industry and law enforcement working in unison. Our industry is no longer an easy target for these criminals and we are determined to protect our honest customers.”
Medico-Legal News Source: PostOnline
