Four men arrested under suspicion of insurance fraud as IFED sees the number of suspects top 1,000.
The number of suspected insurance fraudsters dealt with by the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) topped 1,000 this week after detectives arrested four men in Wales.
Insurance Age reports the action was part of an investigation into a series of suspected bogus personal injury insurance claims resulting from what is believed to be a deliberate collision between a bus and car on a Cardiff road.
The alleged crash for cash case was referred to the City of London Police unit by two insurers with the assistance of the Insurance Fraud Bureau.
Since January 2012, the IFED team has investigated millions of pounds worth of bogus insurance claims and, in the process, made 626 arrests and undertaken a further 386 voluntary interviews.
From these 1,000 suspects IFED said it has secured 185 police cautions and 109 convictions at court, with judges putting insurance fraudsters behind bars for a total of 49 years.
The unit has also had £251,356 seized from convicted insurance fraudsters and returned it to victims.
Steve Head, City of London Police commander and the police national coordinator for economic crime, said that the IFED is continuing to deliver on its primary purpose – to target fraudsters and their criminal enterprises that have taken millions of pounds from industry.
“Just as importantly when the news of IFED’s latest arrests, convictions and sentencings feature in the media it makes others who have previously thought insurance fraud is a crime without consequences stop and think again,” he said.
The men arrested in Cardiff are aged 21 to 26 and were bailed until March.