Fraudster jailed for bogus insurance claims

Joel Mtebe made fraudulent claims on home insurance policies for phones, laptops and TVs

A serial fraudster who pocketed £12,000 from bogus home insurance claims has been jailed.

Joel Mtebe, of Chorley, was first sentenced in 2017, after he made 15 fraudulent claims on home insurance policies for phones, laptops and TVs.

From March 2019 to February 2022, the 37-year-old took out six further home insurance policies using fictitious identities and made 15 fake claims against them, nine of which were successful, the City of London Police said.

Mtebe admitted multiple counts of fraud by false representation and was given a 20-month sentence at Liverpool Crown Court.

Concocted stories

RSA Insurance had linked Mtebe to four of the six policies and referred the case to the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) for investigation.

Police found:

• In January 2020 Mtebe took out a home insurance policy under the name Thomas Bass and made claims for a damaged television and a lost iPhone, which were settled for a total of £2,793

• In March 2020, Mtebe took out a policy as James Thurnburrow and received a payout of £3,198, after he submitted a claim for a lost camera

• A third insurance policy was taken out in August 2020 under the name Steve Mason and, in October, a claim for a lost backpack was made against it which was rejected

• Mtebe then took out an insurance policy under the name Matthew Hamilton in December 2020 and registered a claim for the loss of an Apple Mac Mini computer

Suspicions were raised at RSA after a claims handler noted that the invoice submitted for the Apple Mac Mini to support the claim had been edited.

After further investigation, RSA linked all four insurance policies to Mtebe and the case was referred to IFED who raided his house in Darwen Fold Close and found evidence linking him to two of the policies.

Two further policies were also linked to him, police said.

Det Con Dan Weller said Mtebe concocted a series of stories, which ranged from him falling over and dropping his phone down a drain to a child smashing a toy into his TV screen, "all for the purpose of making a quick gain".