Crash for cash gang made more than £30,000 from staged accident

Maqsood Ahmed, aged 38, from Halesowen, attempted to fleece his insurer, RSA, when he contacted them to report that he had been involved in a crash while driving his Citroen C4 in Lea Hall Road, Birmingham, the night before, London's Old Bailey heard.

He claimed that he was driving along the street when he bent down to pick up a phone that had been dropped by a passenger, and in doing so lost control and hit a parked Mercedes C63 AMG.

Mohammed Munir, 28, the owner of the Mercedes who was also in on the plot, then got in touch with RSA later the same day to report the damage to his car.

Two passengers in Munir's car at the time of the collision, brothers Khalid and Kashif Mahmood, also submitted personal injury claims totalling over £8,000.

Naveed Mohammed then used his company 'Road Accident Help' to charge excessive fees and post insurance claims to try and make the scam appear credible.

However, when RSA's engineers examined the two cars, they noted that the damage to the vehicles was not consistent with the story given. In addition, the general condition of the Citroen, aside from the crash damage, was so bad that it was, in their opinion, not driveable and the case was referred to IFED officers to investigate.

Damning messages were found on the phone of one of the suspects, which detailed how Munir was struggling to pay for the finance on the car involved and had arranged to stage the crash to get a pay-out from the insurer, the court heard.

The false calls were first made in July 2013 and all four were arrested on 21 January 2014 and officers also seized phones belonging to the men. When they examined Munir's phone, they found messages sent by Munir to another number, where he was asking to find somebody willing to stage a collision and take the blame.

Detective Sergeant Matt Hussey, from the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department said: "This whole fraud began because Munir couldn't afford the finance payments on his Mercedes and he thought insurance fraud was an easy way out.

"From Munir instigating the fraud, to Ahmed making up the collision, to the Mahmood brothers making false injury claims and then finally Mohammed who facilitated the whole story by using his company to try and give it an air of credibility. All five were out to make money and defraud the insurer, which ultimately hurts honest customers with higher premiums."

Ahmed, of Seven Acres Road, and Munir, of Bowyer Road, Birmingham, were each given a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to complete 200 hours unpaid work

Khalid Mahmood, 25 of Lea Hall Road, Birmingham, received a nine- month jail term, suspended for two years, and was told to do 160 hours of unpaid work.

Kashif Mahmood, 23, of Lea Hall Road, Birmingham, and Mohammed, 25, of Bromfield Road, Birmingham, were each given a four-month prison sentence, suspended for two years and 80 hours unpaid work.