Ghost broker jailed for providing fake car insurance to criminals

A ghost broker has been sentenced to two years in prison for using stolen data to set up fake companies and buy 10 fraudulent fleet insurance policies that covered vehicles involved in criminal activity.

Suhail Hussain (pictured) was sentenced at the Inner London Crown Court, following a City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) that also discovered that the ghost broker used the details of two real companies to make fraudulent insurance claims for two car accidents, worth £6,990.

In total, Hussain bought 10 insurance fleet policies, worth a total value of approximately £60,000, and added more than 70 different vehicles to them.

According to IFED, Hussain registered seven fraudulent companies with Companies House between December 2013 and February 2016, and also used stolen details of five legitimate companies, both with the aim of buying fake fleet insurance policies as a ghost broker.

When setting up some of the fake companies, the ghost broker lied about being a solicitor, and this was proven false by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. A statement from the Financial Conduct Authority also confirmed that he wasn’t authorised to act as an insurance broker.

By taking out fleet policies, he could add numerous vehicles onto them for a fraction of the price of real cover. Some of the vehicles that his policies covered had been involved in criminal activity, and it’s believed they were added to these policies to make them harder to trace.

Detective constable Andrew Porcher, who the led the investigation for IFED, said: “Not only did Hussain act deceitfully to take out numerous false fleet insurance policies, he also helped facilitate wider criminality.”

“This should act as a warning to anyone who is thinking of setting up fake companies or exploiting the details of real ones to commit insurance fraud, you will be caught and you will be punished.”

Mark Dugdale