Gang bust over luxury car smash scam
A crime gang which spent years staging fake high-end car smashes in Melbourne has been busted. Here’s how police say they pulled it off.
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A crime gang which spent years staging fake high-end car smashes in Melbourne has been busted.
Investigators from Operation Contract last week laid more than 120 charges as part of the unprecedented three-year probe of the racket.
Detectives, led by officers from the vehicle crime squad, originally arrested 65 people and charged 38, seizing 21 cars valued at $1.85 million.
The value of the frauds inflicted on insurers is suspected of running into millions of dollars. Vehicles at the centre of the rorts — known as “claim farming” — included an Aston Martin valued at $200,000, a $120,000 Maserati Ghibli and a Mercedes-Benz AMG C63 worth about $120,000.
Law firms, banks and auction yards were raided as part of the inquiry.
Car dealerships, repair garages, recovery agents and spare parts businesses have also come under scrutiny.
Links to Middle Eastern organised crime figures have been uncovered.
Police have found some cars were smashed multiple times for repeat insurance claims.
The Herald Sun has been told that some people trying to sell luxury or high-performance cars online were allegedly approached by ring members and persuaded they could make a quick profit before selling their cars were then used in choreographed accidents.
Scripts were provided by the organisers on how to deal with insurance companies when making a claim.
The car would be fixed by a body shop in on the scam, then returned to the owner.
Other frauds involve scammers buying cheap write-offs at car auctions which match those to be the subject of claims.
They then recruit for cash a person whose vehicle is used in a collision.
A claim is then made against that person’s policy.
Detectives believe some insurers may simply cave in and pay out claims when threatened with costly court action over the luxury car “crashes”.
Most of them are believed to have happened in isolated industrial areas away from CCTV cameras.
Some of the damage is suspected of being inflicted at panel shops.
The probe examined allegedly faked smashes going back as far as 2014.
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Two men who allegedly masterminded the scam were charged last week.
One, a 36-year-old from Hadfield, faces 68 charges including obtaining financial advantage by deception, attempting to obtain financial advantage by deception, using a false document and blackmail.
Another Hadfield man, 35, faces 24 charges including obtaining a financial advantage by deception, attempting to obtain a financial advantage by deception and using a false document.
Also charged last week were a 44-year-old Broadmeadows man who faces eight charges, including attempting to obtain financial advantage by deception, perjury and attempt to pervert the course of justice; a 34-year-old Kings Park man; an Epping man, 76; a 47-year-old Coburg man,; a 38-year-old from Doncaster East; and a Langwarrin man, 29.
The investigation was led by officers from the Victoria Police vehicle crime squad.
Crime Command and the Critical Incident Response Team were among other police sections involved.