Driver in China dies after deliberately crashing vehicle to claim insurance payout

Driver dies after deliberately crashing vehicle into tree for insurance scheme

A driver in Tongbai, Henan, China died after deliberately crashing his SUV into a tree in an attempt to claim an insurance payout.

On the night of 12 Feb, the local police received an accident report and later found an SUV that had collided head-on with a tree at the scene, with a man lying outside the driver’s side of the car.

The vehicle was severely damaged, and the driver, identified as You (name transliterated from Chinese), tragically lost his life, according to Sing Tao Daily.

During the investigation, the police grew suspicious due to the lack of braking, seatbelt use, airbag deployment, and steering corrections.

Staged collision gone wrong in attempt to claim over S$92,500 payout

The person who reported the accident, Hu Chang (name transliterated from Chinese), initially told the police that he was on his way to buy tea when he witnessed the crash.

However, the police later uncovered he was the victim’s cousin.

CCTV footage at the site showed that a white car was tailing the SUV shortly before the crash, with its driver later assisting in removing the victim from the crashed vehicle.

The driver of the white car, Hu (name transliterated from Chinese), turned out to be from a neighbouring town and owned a car repair shop that had previously sold the crashed SUV to You.

The police also discovered that the SUV had an unusually high insurance coverage — about S$92,500 to S$111,000 — which was purchased just before the crash.

Through further investigation, they concluded that the accident was an insurance fraud scheme jointly planned and executed by the three individuals.

You was the driver of the car, Hu Chang was in the passenger seat as a supervisor, and Hu followed closely behind in another vehicle, pretending to be a passerby.

After the accident, they planned to use Hu’s repair shop as a cover, falsifying repair estimates to fraudulently claim insurance money. However, due to You’s mishandling of the vehicle, he died at the scene.

Previously scammed insurance companies of over S$166,000

Further investigations uncovered that since 2019, the three suspects had colluded with each other, using Hu’s auto repair shop as a cover for fraudulent claims.

They would create minor accidents like rear-end collisions and fake damage claims, using exaggerated repair quotes to trick insurance companies into paying out, as reported by Chinese news outlet Sina.

They had defrauded insurance companies out of over S$166,000 through intentional accidents, inflated repair estimates, and low-cost repairs.

After analysing bank records and insurance claim data, the police also discovered two other similar fraud schemes led by different criminal groups.

One of them, led by a suspect named Li (name transliterated from Chinese), also used a car repair shop as a cover to hire drivers to stage accidents for insurance money.

In total, 16 individuals have been arrested in connection with these insurance fraud schemes, and the police have recovered over S$240,000.

Also read: Man in Taiwan soaks legs in dry ice to get them amputated for S$1.7M insurance payout

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Featured image adapted from Sing Tao Daily.