‘Inventing Anna’ style serial faker ordered to pay over £46K after judge saw through car crash scams

A serial faker, reminiscent of something from Inventing Anna or The Tinder Swindler, has been ordered to pay £46,697.60 after a judge concluded he had faked a series of insurance claims. Hastings Direct instructed Horwich Farrelly, the UK’s leading legal advisers to the insurance and commercial sectors, who successfully won the case after proving the claimant was the leader of a ring who were repeatedly staging claims in attempts to defraud the insurer.

This case centred around two road traffic incidents that Mr Khan (the claimant) alleged happened on 23 December 2016 and 12 June 2017. Mr Khan pursued claims for damage to his vehicle damage, car hire and injuries. Interim payments were made to Mr Khan before evidence was uncovered showing that he had invented insurance policies, concocted accidents, faked injuries and was more widely involved in motor insurance fraud. Evidence also suggested Mr Khan had used a false identity to help others make false claims, as well as being directly involved himself, putting him at the centre of a fraud ring.

Once satisfied that Mr Khan’s involvement was wide-spread and the accidents were fraudulent, Hastings Direct, via Horwich Farrelly who specialise in challenging fraudulent insurance claims, began legal proceedings against Mr Khan, seeking reimbursement for the payments made for vehicle damage and car hire together with exemplary damages and legal costs.

At the hearing, the judge agreed that Mr Khan was indeed a propagator and ordered him to repay the interim payments received plus interest and an award for exemplary damages in the sum of £15,000.00 as well as Hastings Direct’s costs on a standard basis. Whilst the judge acknowledged that the exemplary damages awarded to Hastings Direct were significantly higher than the damages Mr Khan claimed, he found an award limited to the amounts paid out would be ‘under compensation’. The judge commented that it was apparent that Mr Khan has been involved in a number of cases and has probably cost the insurance industry far more than the sums claimed in this case.

Jared Mallinson, Head of Counter Fraud at Horwich Farrelly said “This result demonstrates the value of insurers taking a tough approach to fraud in order to protect their business and their customers. The sizeable award for exemplary damages will send a robust message to other fraudsters considering taking them on.”

Amelia Rey, Head of Claims Fraud at Hastings Direct commented: “The perceived glamour following programmes like Inventing Anna gives the false impression that fraud like this has no real consequences. That’s far from the case as this incident shows. Working with Horwich Farrelly we were not only able to bring this perpetrator to justice but hope this will illustrate to anyone else contemplating going down the same path that they need to have a serious rethink as Hastings, and other insurers, are not a soft touch.”