Serial fraudster jailed after pocketing £12,000 from bogus insurance claims for phones, laptops and TVs

A man who submitted a series of fake home insurance claims to RSA Insurance for the second time, has been jailed for 20 months.

Joel Mtebe, 37, of Darwen Fold Close, Chorley, was first sentenced in 2017, after he made 15 fraudulent claims on home insurance policies underwritten by RSA.

From March 2019 to February 2022, Mtebe took out six further home insurance policies underwritten by RSA using fictitious identities and made 15 fake claims against them. Nine of the claims were successful and resulted in him receiving payments worth a total of £11,750.

However, RSA linked Mtebe to four of the six policies and referred the case to the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) for investigation.

Mtebe pleaded guilty at Preston Magistrates Court on 25 April 2024 to eight counts of fraud by false representation. He was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on 20 August 2024 to 20 months imprisonment and must also pay a £140 victim surcharge.

Detective Constable Dan Weller, from the City of London Police's Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED), said:

“Mtebe concocted a series of stories, which ranged from him falling over and dropping his phone down a drain to a child smashing a toy into his TV screen, all for the purpose of making a quick gain. Claims like these push up the cost of insurance premiums for everyone else, which means that honest customers end up paying the price.

“It was disappointing to see Mtebe’s name once again when this case landed on my desk, but hopefully the sentence handed down will finally teach him that, no matter how many names you hide behind, insurance fraud will always be caught out in the end.”

Mtebe took out a home insurance policy under the name Thomas Bass in January 2020. In March, he reported the loss of a backpack, but the claim was declined. He made further claims for a damaged television and a lost iPhone, which were settled for a total of £2,793.

In March 2020, Mtebe took out a policy as James Thurnburrow and received a payout of £3,198, after he submitted a claim for a lost camera. Further claims for a phone that was lost down a drain and a damaged TV were rejected.

A third insurance policy was taken out in August 2020 under the name Steve Mason and, in October, a claim for a lost backpack was made against it. RSA identified errors in the documents that were submitted to support the claim and it was rejected.

Mtebe then took out an insurance policy under the name Matthew Hamilton in December 2020. He registered a claim for the loss of an Apple Mac Mini computer, but suspicions were raised at RSA after a claims handler noted that the invoice submitted to support the claim had been edited. After further investigation, RSA linked all four insurance policies to Mtebe and the case was referred to IFED in September 2021.

In March 2022, IFED officers arrested Mtebe and executed a search warrant at his home address. Evidence found on Mtebe’s laptop, which was seized by officers during the warrant, linked him to two of the policies.

Mtebe admitted during his police interview that he had made the fake claims. He stated that another man known as “Matt” set up the insurance policies and gave him the details of what to claim for. Mtebe said he would withdraw 70 per cent of the money he received from RSA in cash and hand it to Matt, but officers found that the cash had never been withdrawn from his bank account.

Two further policies under the names Nathan Macintyre and Jack Grover were linked to Mtebe, and he was interviewed by IFED officers for a second time in January 2023. Mtebe told officers that he took out a policy as Macintyre for his own financial gain. When Mtebe was asked why there was no evidence to show that he was withdrawing 70 percent of his payouts in cash to give to Matt, he was unable to provide a clear explanation.

Adele Sumner, Head of Counter Fraud Strategy & Financial Crime at RSA Insurance, said:

“Joel Mtebe has proved himself to be a determined fraudster, driven by greed and personal gain. His persistent offences showed a huge lack of respect to our honest customers and he wrongly viewed RSA as an easy target. In order to try and protect customers, we constantly invest in fraud detection tools and technologies, which enabled us to identify Mr Mtebe’s false identities and dishonest claims.

“We would like to thank IFED for their efforts in this case and his previous criminal conviction in 2017. He’s proven himself to be a persistent re-offender, over several years and we hope this sentence of 20 months imprisonment handed down in August 2024 will protect, not only our customers, but also other insurers from his dishonest behaviour.”

Notes to editors

Between 2012 and 2015, Mtebe made 15 claims on home insurance policies with RSA Insurance. He was sentenced in 2017 to eight months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to pay £2,000 in compensation.