Karl SmallmanDESPERATE Spaniards suffering during the country’s recession have been caught hacking off part of their own bodies to claim insurance payouts.
One man cut off his hand with a saw but told insurers he’d been in a car crash to claim €2.4 million in compensation.
Investigators discovered the 35-year-old’s fraud when they realised his ‘clean’ injuries did not tally with those expected from a road accident and they could not find his supposedly mangled vehicle.
Another desperate man, from Valencia, used a chainsaw to chop off his arm above the elbow before putting in a claim for €655,000.
Spain has been battered by a crippling recession , with the jobless total in March soaring to 6.2 million.
It means a staggering 27.2 per cent of adults, and 57 per cent of 18 to 25-year-olds , are now out of work.
A report by the Investigation Co-operative of Insurance Companies revealed false claims have rocketed by 50 per cent in the past five years, reaching 146,792 in 2012.
Its chairman, José Antonio Sánchez , said: ‘This rise matches the economic crisis situation which we are in.’
The report said the Spanish insurance industry spent €10 million each year investigating possible fraud.
Can these stories be confirmed? They seem most dubious to say the least.
Very dubious, especially the bloke who decapitated himself and claimed on the insurance.
MOST sad – very despirate folks due to the lousy Spanish economy. Unfortunately, there are not enough Spanish political positions open to get them all rich…. quick?
If REALLY despirate, one can consider an ad I read for a “pair of Spanish Cajones, above average size for 29.95 Euros with postage/handling extra”. I guess it depends on HOW despirate one is?!!