The police have linked 60 people with the massive fraudulent claim program which is among the biggest in the country.
It has just been reported that there have been 60 people that have either pleaded guilty or that have been convicted with being involved in one of the biggest auto insurance fraud scams in the United Kingdom.
The range of the scam was so great that people within the area in which it was occurring were paying far more.
The primary culprits behind the auto insurance fraud were in Derwentside, County Durham, and the residents there were paying up to £100 more for their coverage due to the expense that it was building to their insurers and to the increased risk that it was suggesting in the area. Police made the discovery while performing an investigation into the Wright family’s activities.
Several of that family’s members were involved in the organized auto insurance scam.
The investigations that the police had been performing were into a number of the family members’ activities. The family was from Burnhope and had had previously seen national fame in 2009, when officers changed the names of two local streets away from the family’s names as an effort to increase public confidence.
The organized crime worries in that area had resulted in a massive investigation, code named Operation Nacho, which involved the participation of several agencies, including the Insurance Fraud Bureau. During this investigation, 1,800 accidents that had been handled by two specific firms were examined. Among them, there were immediately 261 that were flagged as looking suspicious.
The investigators in this case felt that some of these auto insurance claims involved entirely fictitious events, others were staged accidents, while some were greatly exaggerated over what had actually happened.
Upon further examination, there were 25 auto insurance claims that were specific to accidents that were deemed to have had the largest impact on the public, both in terms of suspected involvement of organized crime, as well as financially. These specific claims were chosen for detailed examination and eventually led to the discovery of over £3 million in fraudulent payouts (though those specific claims racked up approximately £514,000) and brought 70 defendants to the Newcastle Crown Court, where 60 were determined (or admitted) to be involved.
