A conman by the name of Naveed Shah, 37, has been caught after stealing hire cars with a combined value of £200,000.
Shah from Great Harwood, Lancashire took out a number of false motor insurance policies using the identities of innocent people whilst making bogus insurance claims. Once Shah made the false insurance claims he would book hire cars through claims firms after fabricating a false accident.
He went under the cover of a care assistant. Quite often when he made a claim, he would change the delivery address of the car last minute and get it sent to a medical facility where he claimed he was working. He would then dispose of the car after he was done with it and move on to another, creating a new false identity and claim to go with it.
Shah was the 'victim of accidents' that took place in South England, East Midlands and West Midlands, but he was caught following a sting operation after he tried to get a hire car from Accident Exchange.
At that point anti-motor fraud specialist APU were able to step in and bring Shah to justice, with the help of internation law firm Hill Dickinson and the Netfoil database. The operation had been on-going for 18 months but the wait as worth it after Shah pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy earlier this week at Preston Crown Court. He will return on June the 16th to be sentenced but it is likely he will face time behind bars.
APU’s Head of Investigative Services, Neil Thomas, said: “Shah had obviously figured out what he thought was a fool-proof way to steal cars. He’d use a false identity and payment cards to take out motor insurance policies on cars he never owned, and then report fictitious crashes."
Thomas then added: “It was a cowardly and pre-meditated scam that affected the individuals whose identities he stole, as well as defrauding the claims companies of money, so I’m pleased that APU has played a key part in bringing him to justice.”