Travel insurance fraud: Video shows man who made £75k in bogus claims get nabbed after police bust into home

Dramatic police bodycam footage shows the moment police break down a door to arrest a serial fraudster. 

Sam Carr, 34, repeatedly changed his name by deed poll to make £75,000 worth of false travel insurance claims. He used the identities of his friends and family to make the fraudulent claims.

Carr took out 13 travel insurance policies with five different firms and made fraudulent claims for lost luggage and money against them. In February 2020, LV= General Insurance referred the case to the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED).

Carr had taken out a travel insurance policy with LV= under the name Cruise Pierce. In April 2019, he claimed that his luggage was lost during a flight to Australia 15 days earlier and £1,000 in cash had been stolen from his hotel room. 

When the company checked the claim, they found that the luggage could only have been missing for 11 days. The claims were rejected after Carr did not respond to LV=’s attempts to contact him.

Use of fake names

Further enquiries showed that Carr had used different legal names and aliases, the most prominent being Cruise Archer Pierce and Sebastian Prince Alexander, to make fraudulent claims with Aviva, AXA Partners, Travel Insurance Facilities and Reactive Claims. 

Other enquiries showed that Carr had used different legal names and aliases (Cruise Archer Pierce and Sebastian Prince Alexander) to make fraudulent claims. He gave several addresses including those of family members and storage units he rented when he took out the policies.

Most claims were not paid out

Carr would supply fake banking documents, utility bills and flight boarding passes to evidence the claims. On some occasions, he booked flights, but did not travel. From the scams, Carr received a total of £11,321. The majority of the claims were not paid out after they were deemed fraudulent.

Fraud Squad officers located Carr during a search warrant executed at his cousin’s home with Greater Manchester Police. When nobody answered the door, officers forcibly removed it and found Carr inside where he was arrested. He answered “no comment” to every question during his interview.

Carr, of Bolton, Greater Manchester, pleaded guilty to 10 counts of fraud by false representation at Inner Crown Court in January.

On March 20, he was sentenced at the Royal Courts of Justice to 20 months imprisonment, suspended for two years. He was also ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

Fraud warning

Detective Constable Vincent Baughan, of the IFED at City of London Police, said: “Travel insurance is intended to be a reassuring safety net should the worst happen, not a means of personal financial gain.

“Carr had very little regard in terms of who he implicated in his crimes, using the identities of innocent friends and family members to claim on several policies. 

"Let this be a warning to anyone thinking of making bogus claims on insurance: no matter how many actions are taken to try to cover up your tracks, fraudulent activity will be picked up.”