Bexhill man sentenced after making false health claims for himself and fictitious family

Harwinder Sangha, 47, of De La Warr Road, Bexhill-On-Sea, East Sussex, pleaded guilty to six counts of fraud by false representation, following an investigation by the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED),

He was sentenced at Hastings Magistrates’ Court on Friday (November 9, 2018) to seven weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, police said.

He was also given a drug rehabilitation order to be completed over six months. Compensation of £2,764 must be paid alongside court costs and victim surcharges.

In a statement, the City of London Police said the IFED became aware of Sangha’s fraudulent activity due to a referral from Simply Health Insurance.

After conducting an internal investigation, it discovered that between July 2016 and November 2016 Sangha had five health insurance policies using fake details and made numerous claims for dental and optical purchases.

It also identified a further claim of the same nature made by Sangha in 2010.

Simply Health Insurance referred the case to the IFED, police said.

It was revealed, police said, that as well as using fake details to take out the policies as policy holder, Sangha also used fictitious details to add a wife and children to the policies.

Police said he did this in order to make fraudulent claims on behalf of them and ultimately increase the collective value of the claims.

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Only a few days or weeks after starting each of the policies, Sangha would make a fraudulent claim for a mix of optical and dental purchases on behalf of himself and his fictitious family, said police.

To substantiate these claims, according to police, Sangha created fraudulent compliment slips and receipts and sent these to the insurer as proof of purchase.

Sangha was arrested in November 2017 and IFED conducted a search warrant at the address.

It seized a bank statement which revealed that his bank account had been used to buy some of the policies, police said.

It was also discovered the several other bank accounts were used by Sangha to take out other policies and receive payments from his claims.

After this warrant, various telephone numbers were also identified as belonging Sangha, and he used these to start the policies and also call the insurer to receive updates on how his claim was progressing.

In total, police said Sangha was paid out in three of the claims, amounting to £2,764, while the other three were rejected, amounting to £1,416.

Detective Constable Jamie Kirk, who led the investigation for IFED, said: “Sangha not only used fake details to make false health claims for himself, he also created fictitious family members to maximise the amount he could attempt to steal.

“With support from Simply Health Insurance, the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department managed to uncover the true extent of Sangha’s false claims, and he’s now been punished for his fraudulent activity.”