On Wednesday (18 July 2018), Jack Burton was sentenced at Manchester Crown Court for making nine fraudulent claims against several insurers including Aviva, RSA, Allianz and Direct Line Group. He also pleaded guilty to abusing his position as an insurance claims handler at AXA, stealing £7,779. This story is bound to further cement the insurance industry’s reputation of being untrustworthy, backed up by the number of cases brought to professionals like bad faith insurance lawyer Gary Bruce. However, it also acts as an example of why there are so many hoops to jump through when you make an insurance claim.

Following an investigation by the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED), Jack Burton, aged 27, of Waterways Avenue, Trafford, Manchester, was sentenced to 12 months in prison.

Reports of fraudulent insurance claims

IFED were first made aware of Burton’s fraudulent activity in July 2017, when Aviva suspected fraudulent insurance claims had been made against a policy under his name and a company that was linked to him called Jabur Holding Ltd.

In the following months, IFED officers made enquiries across the insurance industry about Burton, and it was discovered that he had also made fraudulent claims against policies he had incepted with Direct Line Group, RSA and AXA.

Between December 2016 and April 2017, Burton made seven claims against these policies for theft, loss or damage to various items, including a MacBook Pro, a Canon camera and an i-Pro camera.

To substantiate his various claims, Burton provided photographs for the allegedly stolen items, as well as invoices he had altered. He was also abusive with insurer call centre staff to try and force the claims through, and even adopted a Birmingham accent to disguise his identity, as he feared that he would be recognised by call centre staff who he previously worked with.