Alex Trelinski
A LAWYER masterminded a scam in Elche where car accidents were deliberately staged to get insurance payouts.
The Policia Nacional have arrested 13 people including a 16-year-old minor over offences committed between 2015 and 2024.
The insurance claims were organised by a structured gang with the same routine being used to stage a collision.
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Members of the group would drive around roundabouts waiting for a car to leave it incorrectly and they would then collide with it.
‘Victims’ then contacted the Elche Policia Local to report an accident where they made it clear that they were the innocent party.
The fraudsters went to health and rehabilitation centres to exaggerate the extent of their injuries and to get lengthy treatments to increase what an insurer paid.
To speed up the process, the lawyer running the plot would complain to an insurance company about how long they were taking to pay because he claimed it was holding up any legal action.
The compensation was then paid and he took a cut of the compensation.
The lawyer provided comprehensive briefings on how to stage an accident with a special focus on guaranteeing a minimum number of people per vehicle, which raised what was paid to ‘victims’.
All of the arrests have been in Elche with the 13 detainees facing charges of fraud, document forgery, and belonging to a criminal gang.
A second phase to locate other people involved- at least three more- is being executed by the Policia Nacional.
Authorities have not said how much money was scammed out of insurance companies.
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