In 2023, a university student in Taiwan tried to scam his insurers in an attempt to get a payout of $1.3 million dollars! By amputating his own legs!
What did he do?
The 23-year-old Zhang, plunged his feet in a bucket of dry ice for over 10 hours to get them so badly frostbitten that he would need a double amputation.
Why did he do it?
According to the Taiwan Criminal Investigation Bureau, a friend of Zhang named Liao persuaded him to carry out the insurance scam. Liao, who had suffered losses from trading cryptocurrency tricked Zhang into signing a legal note obligating him to pay $800,000. He also allegedly said that some gangsters were pursuing him. Burdened by this obligation, he gave into his friend’s persuasion.
How did they (try to) carry out the scam?
What went wrong?
In January 2024, both Zhang and Liao were arrested and charged with fraud, and aiding and abetting serious injury. The $7,200 Zhang had successfully claimed from one insurer would be seized.
India is no stranger to insurance frauds.
According to Deloitte’s Insurance Fraud Survey 2023, about 60 per cent of Indian insurance companies are seeing a rapid increase in fraud, especially in the life and health insurance space.
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