Cyber Cops Bust Massive Insurance Scam: 25,000 Vehicle Owners Cheated in Ghaziabad
The Ghaziabad cyber police have arrested two individuals accused of orchestrating a massive insurance scam that cheated over 25,000 vehicle owners across the nation, including 128 victims from Ghaziabad, in just one year. The financial impact of this fraud exceeds Rs 50 crore.
The accused, identified as Sartaj (51) from Meerut and Deepak Thakur (38) from Kavi Nagar, were licensors at the RTO office in Ghaziabad. They fabricated third-party insurance policies for various companies, including ICICI Lombard General Insurance, Magma HDI General Insurance, and others.
According to ADCP (crime & cyber) Piyush Kumar Singh, the perpetrators collected complete premium payments from owners of aged commercial vehicles and lorries but fraudulently altered the policy-generation application to issue two-wheeler insurance instead of coverage for heavy vehicles. The cost of insurance for a two-wheeler is around Rs 1,500, while the cost for four-wheelers and heavy vehicles ranges between Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000.
The scam came to light on March 8 when the vice president of ICICI Lombard General Insurance, Sanjay Thakur, filed a complaint about the manipulation of the company’s insurance app by two policy agents in Ghaziabad. An FIR was registered against Rohit and Vikash Kashyap, with Rohit improperly issuing 858 insurance policies worth Rs 12.31 lakh and Vikas issuing 128 policies worth Rs 18.50 lakh.
The police have recovered 84 counterfeit third-party insurance policies from the accused’s mobile phones and are contacting the affected insurance companies. The investigation is ongoing, with a team formed to apprehend the mastermind, Rohit Kumar, and another accused, Priya, who was creating fake insurance papers.
The cyber police believe that over one lakh people may have fallen prey to this scam over the last two years and are continuing to identify and reach out to more victims.
