New York Made 160 Frauds Arrest in First 3 Months of the Year

The Insurance Frauds Bureau of New York State made 160 arrests for frauds-related crimes through the first three months of the year, according to new statistics released by the New York Insurance Department.

The total number of arrests was down from the 230 that the bureau made in the same quarter last year, but slightly more than the 154 arrests the department posted in the first three months of 2007.

Among the milestone arrests reported by the group:

• The January arrest of three family members in connection with a 2004 arson at an apartment building in Gloversville, New York. They initially blamed the fire on cooking oil, and subsequently were paid $210,000 for their insurance claim.
• The February arrest of a Queens man who is the sixty-third suspect arrested in connection to a ring of auto insurance fraudsters who targeted Asian drivers. The alleged scam involved staging over 40 accidents in a three-year period.
• The arrests of eight suspects who were believed to be participants in a scheme of auto give-ups and buy-backs in which owners falsely reported their cars as stolen. The department has also recovered 15 vehicles in connection with the investigation.

The frauds bureau said it obtained 101 convictions in the first three months of the year — an increase over the 51 convictions in the same period last year.

Source: New York Insurance Department.