Fraudster receives three year sentence
A man from Barking has been sentenced to three years in jail at the Old Bailey for a total of 18 charges of fraud, money laundering and unauthorised brokering that totalled £100,000.
‘Ghost broker’ Fahad Mutabazi Abdulatif sold motor insurance policies to criminals, including some who were disqualified from driving, helping them to facilitate crimes such as drug dealing and burglary, while funding his ‘champagne lifestyle’.
This came to an end in July 2013 when the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) received a case referral from insurer LV=. The joint investigation found that Abdulatif, illegally acting as a broker, was supplying fraudulent payment details to LV= in order to obtain policy documentation for which no valid payment was made.
LV= also identified that Abdulatif purported to sell a number of polices to new drivers based on false information which he provided to the insurer. In total, 107 policies were illegally obtained between November 2012 and October 2013 and as a result, Abdulatif was arrested on 2 October 2013 at his home address in Barking. The false insurance ‘broker’ or ‘ghost broker’ used several bank details of others unknown to him and without their permission and supplied compromised bank accounts in order to set up direct debits.
Sue Jones, head of GI fraud strategy at LV=, said, ‘Ghost broking significantly impacts both the insurance industry and consumers, with serious consequences for both the ‘broker’ and the customer in these types of insurance scams. The three year custodial sentence issued in this case should serve as a strong warning to other fraudsters of the repercussions of targeting people with false policies. However, it’s important that consumers are on their guard and aware that along with any financial losses, they too could potentially end up with a criminal record as a result of their involvement. We continue to work closely with the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) to pursue the strongest possible convictions for all fraudulent activities, and urge people to do their research and make sure they’re taking out policies from reputable organisations.’
