Police bust luxury car insurance fraud ring

Ten people have been sent to prosecutors for allegedly staging car accidents with luxury vehicles to fraudulently claim tens of millions of won in insurance payouts, police said Monday.

The Ilsan Seobu Police Station in Gyeonggi Province announced it had referred the case against a man in his 20s, surnamed Jeong, and nine others to prosecutors on April 10 on charges of violating the Special Act on the Prevention of Insurance Fraud. The group is accused of using two high-end foreign cars to orchestrate an accident and claim about 65 million won ($47,000) in insurance payouts.

According to police, Jeong and his accomplices purchased a used Bentley and Porsche and took out standard insurance policies for the vehicles that were easy to obtain. They then staged an accident around dawn on April 5 last year, in a remote area of Ilsanseo District in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. In the scheme, the Bentley rear-ended the Porsche, which was stopped at a flashing traffic signal.

Pretending the crash had happened by chance, the group reported the accident to the insurance company at the scene and later received payouts for vehicle repairs and medical expenses, which they divided among themselves. However, the insurer found the circumstances suspicious and requested a police investigation.

Reviewing dashcam footage and closed-circuit TV (CCTV) recordings, police found evidence of the scheme. The dashcam captured parts of conversations among the suspects discussing the plan, as well as footage of the two cars driving side by side while scouting for a location before the accident. To avoid detection, the group had used Telegram to communicate throughout the planning stages.

Police said the suspects were acquaintances, including neighborhood friends and relatives, and had been struggling financially before carrying out the scheme. Jeong, who recruited the accomplices, was reportedly unemployed and had a prior record of insurance fraud.

"We will continue to analyze insurance fraud trends and work closely with the private sector and related organizations to respond firmly to such crimes," a police official said.


이수연 기자 lotus@donga.com