A student who amputated his own legs for a $1.3 million dollar insurance scam
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?
- In early 2023, after the duo decided to carry out the scam, Zhang bought several life insurance, travel insurance and accident insurance policies from five different insurance companies.
- Then on January 26, 2023, Liao and Zhang rode around Taipei on a motorbike at night, with an intention to present the claim that Zhang suffered frostbite while riding the vehicle late at night.
- After the motorbike ride, the two returned to Liao’s house where Zhang soaked his feet in dry ice. According to the indictment, Chang was actually injured and was strapped into a chair and left to sit with his legs immersed in a plastic bucket filled with dry ice for several hours.
- Zhang was then taken to a nearby hospital after the foot soaking, where medical staff treated his wounds.
- Zhang later filed claims with the insurers he had purchased policies from.
What went wrong?
- Although one insurance company paid out $7,200, the other four insurers alerted the police when they got suspicious since the policies were only recently purchased.
- The medical staff at the hospital sensed something amiss. They reported that although the patient’s feet were frostbitten, there were “neat and symmetrical” injuries and “no socks or shoe marks.”
- According to prosecutors, the weather on the night of January 26 was nowhere close to below freezing, with its coldest temperature at about 5 degrees Celsius.
- In November 2023, a search warrant was issued. The police found a plastic bucket used to freeze Zhang’s feet, insurance papers, a white polystyrene box containing dry ice and eight cell phones.
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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