Car insurance fraudster bought vehicles and then lied they'd been stolen

Louis King was set to pocket £100,000 in 'deceitful' scam. He was caught but avoided jail

Car insurance fraudster bought vehicles and then lied they'd been stolen

A "deceitful" fraudster bought cars from auctions and then lied they'd been stolen as part of a £100,000 insurance scam.

Louis King set up an elaborate con, falsely assuming ownership of several cars, insuring them, and then reporting each as pinched.

The 29-year-old managed to fraudulently gain £13,486, but would have stolen £100,000 if all of his claims had been successful.

On Thursday, the Widnes man was allowed to walk free after a judge at Liverpool Crown Court jailed him for 16 months, but suspended it for 24 months.

Once, King pilfered a car from a dealership after a test drive, insured it and reported it as stolen to make a false insurance claim.

In another case, King assumed ownership of a vehicle that had just been sold on by a man whose hobby involved repairing and selling damaged cars.

The car was subsequently seized by police and the man had to reimburse the original purchaser £5,000.

The City of London Police’s insurance fraud enforcement department also uncovered King had used fake bank statements and pay slips to show that he was receiving a much greater income than he was actually earning.

He used this false paperwork to get a Jaguar on a hire purchase agreement with a car finance company.

But afterwards, King didn’t make any of the scheduled £600 monthly repayments, and evidence suggested the car was then sold on for £14,500 – considerably less than its £20,000 value.

As a result, the car finance company ended up losing £20,000, and a further £17,000 through the interest they should have earned.

King, Fisher Place, was handed a 35 day rehabilitation activity requirement and 200 hours community service.

He admitted seven counts of fraud by false representation.

The crime was referred to police by insurers including AXA, Churchill Insurance and LV= General Insurance.

Detective Constable Joanne Farrell, who led the investigation, said: “King is a deceitful individual, intent on making money through whatever fraudulent methods possible.

“With valuable support from the insurers affected in this case, our investigation revealed King’s trail of fraudulent activity and he has been rightfully punished.”

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King identified cars on auction websites and had obtained DVLA V5C registration certificates for them, claiming he was the new owner.

He then insured each vehicle with various insurers, and used the certificate to falsely verify ownership. 

Tom Wilson, from AXA, said: "Collaboration between insurers and law enforcement has once again brought a callous fraudster to justice."

Mike Brown, from Churchill , said: "The actions of insurance fraudsters increases premiums for honest customers and costs the insurance industry millions of pounds a year."

Clare Lunn, from LV= General Insurance, added: "The court has sentenced a serial offender who attempted to commit frauds against ourselves and a number of other insurers.

"Despite his best efforts to avoid detection through the use of aliases, thorough investigative work was able to expose him for the fraudster he is."