Sixteen people have been sentenced for taking part in a £2 million fraud conspiracy targeting high value cars, following an investigation led by Hertfordshire Police, which was supported by the IFB and its members, along with NaVCIS.

The crime group stole 75 cars including Porsches, Mercedes and BMWs by using stolen identities to fraudulently obtain motor insurance and ultimately gain access to finance deals. 

The IFB was first approached by Hertfordshire Police and NaVCIS in February 2022 for support, as they were investigating an organised crime group believed to have stolen vehicles via impersonation fraud.

It was found that hundreds of stolen identities had been obtained by the group via the dark web. These were used to obtain fraudulent driving licences and finance deals on vehicles that were then stolen. 

Driving licences used to collect vehicles from dealerships were also used for fraudulent insurance policies to facilitate the collection of vehicles, which then went missing after no payments were made.

The IFB identified 23 fraudulent insurance policies linked to the scam network, impacting eight insurers; Admiral, Aviva, Axa, Covea, Direct Line Group, Hastings Direct, Haven and Markerstudy.

The IFB worked with each insurer to gather evidence including details of how the policies were incepted to connect suspects to the compromised identities and policies used to steal the vehicles. 

Jon Radford, Head of Intelligence, Investigations & Data Services at the IFB, said:

“We're pleased to see justice has been served following one of our biggest ever investigations involving Identity theft; in collaboration with Hertfordshire Police, NaVCIS and our insurer members.
 
"This shameless group of scammers stole the identities of hundreds of people to take out fraudulent insurance policies, without a regard for the impact on victims, in an elaborate bid to steal brand new cars through finance deals.
 
"Identity theft is a growing threat which results in real harm, as it facilitates a wide range of crimes. We encourage the public to be vigilant and if anyone thinks their personal info has been compromised for an insurance scam, to report it to our confidential CheatLine."

The outcome follows the IFB's recent warning that reports of insurance fraud resulting from stolen identities have nearly doubled in the past 12 months. The public is being urged to be vigilant and report concerns to IFB's CheatLine, if they believe their details have been used in an insurance scam.