Owner of ‘stolen’ SUV confesses to staging incident to get insurance money

A 27-year-old businessman attempted to commit insurance fraud by staging the theft of his white SUV Volkswagen PYY 7703 with $500,000 in cash inside and several important documents.

The businessman reported to police on Wednesday night that the vehicle was stolen after he left the keys inside the ignition and went to pick up some food at a Chinese restaurant on Alexander Street in Kitty Georgetown.

Police Headquarters Thursday night revealed that the businessman subsequently confessed to detectives at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) that the theft was staged. According to the police, the man said the incident was staged by himself and a friend.

“The 27-year-old claimed that he staged the incident because he was frustrated after he was involved in an accident with the vehicle and the insurance company refused to pay him for the damages, and stated that the plan was to destroy the vehicle to get the insurance benefit,” police reported.

The vehicle was found abandoned on Thursday at Ogle, East Coast Demerara.

The businessman had reported to the police that the vehicle was parked in front of the Seepaul’s Sports Bar while the driver went into the restaurant and later came out to find the vehicle missing.

He reportedly left several land transport, copies of agreement of sales for land and all the relevant documents pertaining to the vehicle (registration, fitness, certificate of insurance and revenue licence) inside the vehicle.

The businessman was arrested and placed in custody.