A Londoner received a sentence of 21 months, suspended for two years, and given a 180-hour community service requirement for using false information and compromised bank accounts to set up hundreds of phoney insurance policies on behalf of other people.
In less than 15 months, Rodney Bruce Van der Puye, 34, of Southwark’s Cator Street, made about £50,000 by working as a “ghost broker,” or unlawful middleman. Van der Puye used his, his mother’s, and the identities of unaware members of the public to target some of the largest insurance firms in the UK to obtain more affordable vehicle insurance coverage for his “clients.”
On Thursday, July 6, 2022, in Inner London Crown Court, Van der Puye was sentence for fraud by false representation, money laundering, and rendering a regulated claims management service without authorization, he earlier altered his plea from not guilty to guilty.
The Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB), which identified 28 questionable policies tied to one person, quickly discovered his misdeeds. The City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) was then tasked with looking into the issue further, and they found more policies that were linked to Van der Puye.
IFED investigation lead Detective Sergeant Adam Maskell says: “When this case was referred to IFED from the IFB, we knew we had a seasoned ‘ghost broker’ on our hands. However, it was only when we seized evidence from Van der Puye that we realised the extent of his offending.
“The mobile phones we seized turned out to be a goldmine of overwhelming evidence, which Van der Puye could not dispute. In spite of this, the ‘ghost broker’ still tried to shift the blame during interview and even entered an initial plea of not guilty.
“We often see cases where the policyholder is unaware that they are dealing with a ‘ghost broker’, but this was clearly not the case. Van der Puye had a reputation for his illegal services and had accrued a number of customers along the way, many of whom seemed to be aware of his fraudulent methods. Van der Puye has faced justice, but I also hope his customers take stock of their actions and refrain from purchasing insurance through a ‘ghost broker’ again.”
The policies identified by the IFB, which were implemented between 2016 and 2017, were the focus of the initial study by IFED. Although many of these policies were taken out using addresses, email addresses, and bank accounts associated to other persons, several were taken out in either Van der Puye’s name or that of his mother.
For just four car insurance over a two-year period, 26 of these policies were obtained. After payments were rejected because the bank account holders’ data did not match those of the policyholders, the insurers repeatedly cancelled the policies.
One of the cars that van der Puye had fraudulently insured when he arrived at the house was a black BMW.
Officers removed three phones from the home and the car and on one phone, more than 50 messages pertaining to more fraudulent policies were found. Additionally, 113 false policies created by Van der Puye between May and July 2018 alone were discovered by this evidence. This device’s evidence suggested that Van der Puye’s ‘clients’ were aware that the insurance policies were false. Also mentioned by name in these chats was Van der Puye. According to Van der Puye’s replies, his fees ranged from £80 to £150.
An examination of this bank account found that between May 2017 and August 2018, £50,000 worth of transactions—all involving insurance policies—were conducted. From this total, $27,000 was moved to a Van der Puye-owned account, over £6,500 went to his mother’s account, and another £3,800 was used to pay rent.
The owner of this account claimed during an interview with IFED officers that because this was not her primary bank account, she was unaware of the deposits. According to the business that processed Van der Puye’s rent payments, they were frequently made using a variety of bank accounts and credit cards and were subject to “chargebacks” since the transactions were thought to be fraudulent.
IFB head of intelligence and investigations Stephen Dalton says: “From the start of this investigation, it was clear we were dealing with a ghost broker unlike any other. Not only was this fraudster using stolen personal information to sell bogus insurance policies on a large scale, but his customers were also in on the act – requesting fraudulent motor insurance so they could use the road without being detected for no insurance.
“This case goes to show just how far-reaching and dangerous the impact of insurance fraud can be. Now that Van der Puye has been stopped in his tracks, it also means many of his so-called clients who were knowingly flouting the law, have also been prevented from committing fraud.
“In what has been a challenging investigation in partnership with IFED, we’re very pleased to see justice has been served and we hope that this conviction serves as a warning to anyone thinking of taking out bogus insurance services. We’re on to them.”