Fraudster prosecuted
The effect of fraud on the UK’s travel insurance industry is well known by readers of ITIJ – the cost to the industry runs into millions of pounds, meaning finding and prosecuting fraudsters is becoming increasingly important.
The effect of fraud on the UK’s travel insurance industry is well known by readers of ITIJ – the cost to the industry runs into millions of pounds, meaning finding and prosecuting fraudsters is becoming increasingly important. Equally vital, though, are deterrents – a point highlighted in a recent editorial in a UK newspaper that detailed the prosecution of a female fraudster who tried to con travel and home insurers into paying out around £50,000 after she faked a series of robberies. Anita Debnath backed up the false claims with police reports obtained from three different police forces in the UK and Ireland by informing the police in London, Leeds and Dublin that she had been robbed of cash, electronic items and designer handbags. She then submitted 12 identical insurance claims to 11 different insurance companies. The scam began in February 2012, when Debnath told London’s Metropolitan Police that she had been robbed in Trafalgar Square. A month later, she reported a similar robbery to West Yorkshire Police, and then in June, while on holiday in Dublin, she reported another robbery to the Garda. A month after that, she submitted another police report in London, claiming she had been robbed and her belongings once again taken.
The fraudulent claims were identified by one of the insurance companies, which reported it to the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED). When her court date came around, Debnath came clean and pleaded guilty to 12 counts of fraud by false representation. She was sentenced to two years and three months in prison for the acts.Detective constable Cynthia Rushie, lead investigator on the case, commented afterwards: “In a bid to avoid detection, Debnath spread her reports across two countries, three police forces and 11 insurers. Unfortunately for her, the new reality for fraudsters is that IFED is working in alliance with insurers and police forces to clamp down on people who still think they can make easy money at someone else’s expense, with little or no risk of ever being brought to justice.”