A group of insurance fraudsters - including a member from Warwick - have admitted running a 'crash for cash' scheme that pocketed over £320,000 in false insurance claims in under a year. 

Ringleaders Raju Patel, 36, and Kamlesh Vadukul, 45, submitted claims on insurance and to a vehicle repair finance service for road traffic collisions that were either deliberately induced or never took place. 

The remaining eight members of the criminal group either caused the collisions or knowingly provided their details to legitimise the claims. 

The 'crash for cash' scheme - ran between December 2015 and October 2016 - was uncovered following an investigation by the City of London Police's Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED). 

All ten members of the group have now admitted to their respective roles in the scheme and will be sentenced in the spring. 

Detective Sergeant Adam Maskell, from the City of London Police's Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED), explained that their fraud affected all drivers by contributing to a rise in insurance premiums.

"'Crash for cash' fraud puts motorists at risk and contributes to the rise in premiums for everyone who buys insurance," he said. 

"The sophisticated level of planning involved in this scheme shows the greed of calculated insurance criminals and the measures they will take to gain financially.

"This was a complex and lengthy investigation and the fact that the group have now admitted their guilt demonstrates the strength of the evidence against them. 

"'Crash for cash' fraud doesn't go unnoticed by the insurance industry or law enforcement and we will work collaboratively to root out organised crime, as this case has shown."

IFED investigators uncovered that Patel and Vadukul purported to run a body repair shop for vehicles involved in road traffic collisions. 

In December 2015, they formed an agreement with a repair finance service which provided credit to non-fault drivers whose vehicles were damaged in accidents. 

This enables non-fault drivers to receive funds to repair their vehicles within 24 hours rather than having to wait for an insurer to pay out. 

The company would then claim back the cost of the repair from the at-fault driver's insurer.

Patel and Vadukul took out car insurance policies using stolen identities or the personal details of the other members of the group. 

They then submitted insurance claims for vehicle damage resulting from collisions that were either been deliberate or had never taken place. 

The ringleaders would then send the repair finance service photos of the vehicles they claimed were involved in the collisions as proof they were being repaired. 

Staff from the repair finance service did not physically inspect the vehicles to confirm that the damage was genuine and made payments into a bank account opened by Vadukul.

However, multiple insurers raised concerns about the validity of the claims, as many of the insurance policies were taken out shortly before the collisions were said to have occurred, or the insured vehicle was not registered to the policyholder. 

The case was referred by the Insurance Fraud Bureau to the IFED, whose officers investigated eight repair finance claims submitted by the body repair shop and found they had not undertaken repairs for any of them.

The investigation revealed that Patel and Vadukul had submitted repair finance claims totalling £275,548 for 39 collisions between December 2015 and October 2016. 

A total of £321,055 was paid into Vadukul's bank account during the same period and was withdrawn as cash or transferred into other accounts linked to Patel.

Kamlesh Vadukul, of Sheffield, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and money laundering.

Amarjit Dhaliwal - also known as Amo Singh - of Warwick, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.

The remaining eight members of the group pleaded not guilty and a four-week trial began at Birmingham Crown Court on January 20 - but all changed their pleas to guilty during the first week of trial. 

Raju Patel, 40, of Walsall, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and money laundering.

Aqeb Hussain, 42, of Oldham, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.

Dimple Ghera, 38, of Wolverhampton; Minata Jalloh, 32, of Dudley; Saqib Khan, 32, of Walstead; Asid Nadeem, 40, of Dudley; James Payne, 37, of Sandwell and Amjad Rehman, 50, of Walsall, all pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation.

The group will be sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on 28 and 29 April 2025.