Two fined for fake insurance payout from scam accident

Two con artists, who tried to land an insurance payout from a staged taxi accident, were each fined $5,000 by a district court yesterday.

27-year olds, Ling Ban Heng and Ng Jie Wen, joined with an acquaintance known only as, Ah Lim, set up an accident involving a cab and two other vehicles on a deserted lane off Mandai Road.

Although neither Ling nor Ng were occupants in the cab, Ah Lim told them to visit a doctor for wrist and neck pain in September 2009. Additionally he asked Ling, a second hand car salesman, to file a police report claiming they were passengers in the rear seat.

Both were given two days of medical leave by different clinics the next day and consulted the William Verhoeven Orthopaedic Clinic in Thomson Medical Centre.

Their medical certificates and personal injury claims were submitted to C. Paglar law firm and then filed with insurance company Royal and Sun Alliance.

Ng claimed for $28,525 while Ling's was $19,903. The payouts were supposed to be paid to Ah Lim and his associates, who would pay them $500 each if their claims were successful. However, the pair realised another 'ghost' passenger in the taxi had withdrawn his claim and followed suit while the insurance company, under suspicion of fraud, reported the incident to the police.

Ling was fined an additional $3,000 yesterday for making a false police report.

Defence counsel Raymond Ng cited, the pair had not received any money from Ah Lim, yet each had spent more than $1,000 out of their own pockets on doctor's fees and legal costs for the personal injury claims.

For attempting to cheat, they could have been jailed for up to two years and six months and fined.