Civil servant found guilty of car crash scam

As if we needed another reminder of the various insurance scams active in the UK at the moment, today saw a civil servant jailed for 4 1/2 years for his part in a £1.6 million "cash for crash" scam. Mohammed Patel, who worked at the Department of Work and Pensions, was found guilty of being part of a gang which staged road traffic accidents by breaking quickly and forcing cars behind them to crash into their vehicles.



It is believed that the 25-year-old himself was involved in more than 90 of these bogus collisions allowing him and other gang members to inflate insurance claims in a fraud which netted around £1.6 million. This particular type of insurance scam is costing the UK motor industry around £350 million a year which equates to around £50 in additional payments per UK car insurance policy.



There has been an enormous increase in the number of scams in the UK over the last few months with more and more people desperate for money and more and more people willing to take chances. However, this particular type of car crash scam has been ongoing for some time and today's conviction will take a relatively experienced gang off the streets.