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A dad and son duo from Leicester scammed chauffeur out of more than ₤ 60,000 by offering useless car insurance coverage that left dozens uninsured.

Ilyas Rauf charged unwary clients approximately ₤ 300 for invalid policies, which left motorists dealing with prospective fines and vehicle seizures, while secretly sharing countless pounds with his child Amer Ilyas.

In the fraud, phony insurance intermediaries will declare they can get you cars and truck or home insurance as a discount rate.

They may either turn over a phony policy or a real one, which they consequently cancel to keep the refund for themselves.

Alternatively, they secure a real policy with incorrect details to bring the premium down - which would likely leave it void must you attempt to make a claim.

Rauf, 51, made ₤ 61,763 from August 2016 to January 2020 by offering created work letters to protect affordable premiums for his victims.
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Between September 2019 and June 2020, he shared more than ₤ 11,000 of his profits with his 28-year-old son, who was provided the task of hiring victims through social media.

The father and child were sentenced at Leicester Crown Court for fraud offences

The National Crime Agency formerly shared a series of mocked-up Instagram advertisements offering '100% legit insurance coverage ensured to beat any price' to reveal motorists what to watch out for

An investigation found he utilized letters from a company called Eastern Catering to fraudulently obtain no claims discount rates.

He incorrectly declared his customers had worked for the business for multiple years without crashes or insurance claims.

It was later on discovered that the address Eastern Catering was signed up to was the very same used by Rauf to sell the phony policies.

Police found that his boy had actually also messaged 31 contacts about insurance on his phone in between October 2015 to March 2021, frequently informing customers that his father would provide quotes for them the next day.

Amer Ilyas would then tell victims to go to the workplace or send out images of bank cards for processing of payment.

Rauf was linked to 52 deceptive motor insurance coverage policies across 4 various insurance companies.

Ilyas Rauf's sibling Ziaed was captured on CCTV eliminating 2 computers from the workplace while cops raided his nephew's home.

Four call had actually been made in between the brothers before Ziaed Rauf unsuccessfully attempted to obstruct a CCTV cam and ran away.

Ziaed was caught on CCTV removing 2 computers from the workplace while police robbed his nephew's home.

Ziaed Rauf unsuccessfully tried to obstruct a CCTV video camera and ran away

How to prevent coming down with 'ghost brokers'

Karl Parr, from AXA UK, stated clients can secure themselves by following the below guidance:

• Stay away from buying insurance coverage promoted through social media platforms and immediate messaging apps.

• Be careful of insurance brokers who market their services in personal community online forums or through ads in public places like pubs, cafes or newsagents.

• Don't engage with insurance coverage brokers who ask for payment in money or through bank transfers. Reputable brokers will offer payment choices through an online website.

• Avoid insurance coverage brokers who utilize personal email addresses or mobile phone numbers to offer policies.

• If you're fretted about a policy you have actually bought or the information don't look right, get in touch with the insurance provider directly - do not utilize the information offered by the broker.

• To ensure you're dealing with an authorised insurance coverage broker, inspect the Financial Conduct Authority's site or the British Insurance Brokers' Association websit.

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Their fraud was revealed when monetary investigators found that he e declared to have earned ₤ 27,366 from 2016 to 2020 despite swiping more than ₤ 61,000 from the insurance scams alone.

When questioned by authorities, his child told officers he might not keep in mind being provided money by his dad and claimed he did not know what it was for.

The three males appeared at Leicester Crown Court on Friday, June 6.

Ilyas Rauf, 51, of Normanton Road, Highfields, Leicester, pleaded guilty to fraud by false representation, breaching the Financial Services and Markets Act and moving criminal residential or commercial property and was jailed for 21 months.

Amer Ilyas, 28, also of Normanton Road, pleaded guilty to money laundering offenses and was provided 16 weeks jail time, suspended for 12 months. He was likewise bought to complete 100 hours of unpaid work.

Ziaed Rauf, 47, of Thurnview Road, Evington, Leicester, was given 18 weeks imprisonment, suspended for 12 months, and was bought to complete 120 hours of overdue work after pleading guilty to the course of justice.

The latest figures from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) reveal the rate of the average automobile insurance plan in January to March 2025 was ₤ 589, a 6 per cent drop from the year before.

However, premiums stay more pricey today than two years back, with the average policy ₤ 478 in January to March 2023 - 23 percent less than the first quarter of 2025.

It follows a significant increase in social media and email hacking reports last year, according to Action Fraud.

A total of 35,434 reports were made to the scams and cyber criminal activity reporting service in 2024, compared with 22,530 in 2023.

Hacking techniques include fraudsters getting control of an account and impersonating the owner to encourage others to expose authentication codes.

The frauds, referred to as 'ghost broking' are typically promoted on social media, appealing cheap quotes for an automobile insurance coverage policy.

Car insurance plan have dropped over the last year, however are still stay historically high

The automobile insurance estimates that ARE too great to be true: Warning over surge in 'ghost brokers'

Many victims think they are being messaged by a good friend.

The most typical intentions for social networks hacking were financial investment scams, ticket fraud or theft, Action Fraud said.

Fraudsters can likewise gain account information through phishing rip-offs or information breaches.

People often utilize the exact same password across accounts, so when one is leaked a number of accounts are left vulnerable.

Action Fraud has actually launched a campaign, supported by Meta, to motivate people to take additional online protection by enabling two-step confirmation.

Victims frequently don't understand they have been scammed up until they try to claim on their policy or if they occur to be stopped by police and asked to reveal their insurance documents.

Karl Parr, Claims Technical Director, AXA UK, informed MailOnline: 'Ghost brokers normally offer premium costs far cheaper than customers can find somewhere else.

'Remember, if something sounds too excellent to be real, it probably is.'

Young chauffeur Wayne Simpson bought a cheap vehicle insurance coverage policy on social networks before realising it was fake after he was not able to claim following a crash, landing him with a loss of ₤ 500.

Young chauffeur Wayne Simpson purchased a cheap automobile insurance coverage policy on social media before realising it was fake after he was unable to claim following a crash, landing him with a loss of ₤ 500

'We called up Aviva and they informed me there wasn't a policy taken out in my name which the number we had given them was not a number they would utilize,' he informed Sky News.

'That's when the dust settles, and you realise it's been a scam.'

Mr Simpson stated the insurance coverage files looked so genuine that they handled to fool a law enforcement officer at the scene of the crash.

'She said," Your vehicle's not appearing as insured". Quickly I went to my glove box, pulled the insurance coverage documents, revealed her the documents and she went through it and stated," That's absolutely great",' he said.