Insurance investigators from Miller Fisher have secured the conviction of six men and a woman after unravelling an elaborate fraud involving £130,000 of false motor claims.
The team also prevented the fraud gang from claiming a further £120,000, had other motor claims succeeded.
The investigation took John McCann and Duncan Swallow more than four months to complete and involved claims submitted to 11 insurers. McCann said: “This shows that a fraud case properly presented to the police can yield encouraging results.”
Isleworth Crown Court sentenced two of the gang to substantial jail terms and is currently considering a confiscation order against the gang to recover proceeds of their crime.
Ring leader Salaheddin al-Rifai, who pleaded guilty to six counts of insurance fraud, received 27 months imprisonment to run concurrently with a nine-month sentence for housing benefit fraud. His wife, Maureen Ferchichi, received a two-year probation order.
His brother, Mohammed al-Rifai, pleaded guilty to six counts of fraud and received a 33-month prison sentence. A third brother, Belal, was fined £2,500 while a fourth, Adeep, who pleaded guilty to one count of fraud is awaiting sentence while he undergoes medical reports.
Another gang member, Mazen Hamden, was fined £6,000 for admitting three counts of fraud and a sixth, Farhan al-Husbani was fined £1,500 for one count of fraud. An eighth suspect failed to answer bail and has fled to Jordan.
Hosted by comedian and actor Tom Allen, 34 Gold, 23 Silver and 22 Bronze awards were handed out across an amazing 34 categories recognising brilliance and innovation right across the breadth of UK general insurance.
