A grinning rogue offers to stage car crashes and then con insurance companies into paying up.
Mohammed Jamil, 34, can arrange for his cronies to expertly make innocent drivers smash into vehicles.
Then - through his own firm 1st Choice Accident Claims in London's East End - he offers to lodge exaggerated injury and damages claims with the innocent driver's insurer. Claims can amount to thousands of pounds each - with Jamil taking a cut.
His fake crash scam - along with others which police know operate throughout Britain - cost insurance firms millions a year and are reckoned to put up the average yearly premium for every motorist by £40. And drivers who get tangled up in the scam can lose their no-claims discount AND run the risk of being injured. Similar cons in the US have led to deaths.
People After a tip-off, one of our undercover investigators posing as an eastern European in need of cash phoned Jamil.
He was eager to meet, only pausing to ask where our man had got his details.
It soon seemed clear that Jamil and his cronies have caused crashes. He admitted: "I have done for many people."
A few minutes into the meeting, Jamil suggested they arrange a crash that day.
Our man asked whether he needed to be in the car. Jamil replied: "No. My guys do the crash. After the crash I call you. I explain to you where the action is.
"You go to that place. I give you pictures as well. [And tell you] who has hit you, whether it's a lorry or car, or black man or English or Asian or anyone. I give you the details." Jamil said they should claim there were two other people in the car - our man was asked to provide two names - and he would claim damages for them too. Jamil said: "The passenger injury claim may be £3,000 per person. And you get a decent hire car free for a few months until it is sorted."
A second People investigator posing as a Bangladeshi man desperate for cash for his new baby met Jamil last week.
This time, Jamil said our man would be with his crash driver. He said: "My brother is driving. You sitting with him. as passenger. [When] everybody coming out you mention you [are] the driver."
He said our man could claim for himself and two passengers, saying: "Three people, no more." Jamil outlined the profits for our man: "Injury, it depends, some people take £5,000, some people take £2,000." He explained which injuries to fake: "You telling the doctor you got pain in the neck, back or leg. X-ray can't find pain or no pain."
Jamil, summing up his service, added: "Bruv, look, it's money, end of the day." The crook outlined his fees. Our man was quoted £500. Jamil said this covered the cost of the driver who would engineer the crash. And for each successful payout for the bogus injury claim, he demanded £299 for "accident management".
Jamil - who drives a £40,000 Chrysler and lives in a £350,00 house - explained: "I need £500 or £600 from people. Cash - it's a dodgy thing. I can't take cheque."
Our investigators declined Jamil's offers, although there is no suggestion that every claim he makes is fraudulent.
Sue Jones of the Insurance Fraud Bureau, warning about the upsurge in crash-for-cash scams across Britain, said: "These gangs engineer situations which the innocent driver has no time to avoid, like suddenly pulling out of a junction. There is a real risk to innocent people.
"And the cost to insurers has a knockon effect on everyone's premiums."
When confronted yesterday, Jamil said: "I am very hardworking. I don't think I am doing anything wrong."
daniel.jones@people.co.uk
http://www.people.co.uk/
