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A father and boy duo from Leicester scammed chauffeur out of more than ₤ 60,000 by selling useless vehicle insurance coverage that left dozens uninsured.

Ilyas Rauf charged unwary consumers as much as ₤ 300 for void policies, which left chauffeurs facing possible fines and vehicle seizures, while secretly sharing thousands of pounds with his son Amer Ilyas.

In the scam, bogus insurance coverage middlemen will declare they can get you car or home insurance as a discount rate.

They may either hand over a phony policy or an authentic one, which they subsequently cancel to keep the refund on their own.
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Alternatively, they secure a real policy with inaccurate information to bring the premium down - which would likely leave it void must you try to make a claim.

Rauf, 51, made ₤ 61,763 from August 2016 to January 2020 by providing forged employment letters to secure affordable premiums for his victims.

Between September 2019 and June 2020, he shared more than ₤ 11,000 of his revenues with his 28-year-old boy, who was offered the task of recruiting victims through social networks.

The daddy and son were sentenced at Leicester Crown Court for fraud offences

The National Crime Agency formerly shared a series of mocked-up Instagram advertisements offering '100% legitimate insurance coverage guaranteed to beat any cost' to reveal chauffeurs what to keep an eye out for

An investigation discovered he used letters from a business called Eastern Catering to fraudulently get no claims discounts.

He falsely declared his clients had actually worked for the company for several years without crashes or insurance coverage claims.

It was later found that the address Eastern Catering was registered to was the exact same utilized by Rauf to sell the phony policies.

Police discovered that his kid had also messaged 31 contacts about insurance coverage on his phone between October 2015 to March 2021, frequently telling clients that his daddy would offer quotes for them the next day.

Amer Ilyas would then tell victims to visit the workplace or send pictures of bank cards for processing of payment.

Rauf was connected to 52 deceptive motor insurance plan across four various insurance companies.

Ilyas Rauf's brother Ziaed was caught on CCTV removing two computers from the workplace while cops robbed his nephew's home.

Four telephone call had actually been made between the siblings before Ziaed Rauf unsuccessfully attempted to block a CCTV video camera and ran away.

Ziaed was caught on CCTV removing two computers from the workplace while cops raided his nephew's home.

Ziaed Rauf unsuccessfully tried to obstruct a CCTV video camera and fled

How to avoid succumbing to 'ghost brokers'

Karl Parr, from AXA UK, said consumers can protect themselves by following the below advice:

• Avoid acquiring insurance coverage policies promoted through social networks platforms and apps.

• Be mindful of insurance brokers who market their services in private neighborhood forums or through advertisements in public locations like pubs, cafes or newsagents.

• Don't engage with insurance brokers who request payment in money or through bank transfers. Reputable brokers will use payment options via an online website.

• Avoid insurance coverage brokers who use individual e-mail addresses or smart phone numbers to sell policies.

• If you're fretted about a policy you have actually bought or the information do not look right, call the insurance company directly - don't use the information supplied by the broker.

• To guarantee you're dealing with an authorised insurance broker, examine the Financial Conduct Authority's website or the British Insurance Brokers' Association websit.

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Their fraud was revealed when monetary private investigators found that he e claimed to have actually earned ₤ 27,366 from 2016 to 2020 in spite of swiping more than ₤ 61,000 from the insurance coverage scams alone.

When questioned by cops, his boy informed officers he might not remember being provided money by his daddy and claimed he did not understand what it was for.

The 3 men 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, likewise of Normanton Road, pleaded guilty to money laundering offenses and was offered 16 weeks jail time, suspended for 12 months. He was also ordered to complete 100 hours of unpaid work.

Ziaed Rauf, 47, of Thurnview Road, Evington, Leicester, was provided 18 weeks jail time, suspended for 12 months, and was ordered to complete 120 hours of unsettled work after pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice.

The latest figures from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) show the price of the typical cars and truck insurance plan in January to March 2025 was ₤ 589, a 6 per cent drop from the year before.

However, premiums remain more expensive today than 2 years ago, with the average policy ₤ 478 in January to March 2023 - 23 percent less than the very first quarter of 2025.

It follows a significant rise in social media and email hacking reports in 2015, according to Action Fraud.

An overall of 35,434 reports were made to the fraud and cyber criminal offense reporting service in 2024, compared with 22,530 in 2023.

Hacking methods include scammers acquiring control of an account and impersonating the owner to persuade others to expose authentication codes.

The frauds, understood as 'ghost broking' are typically promoted on social networks, promising inexpensive quotes for a vehicle insurance coverage policy.

Car insurance coverage have actually dropped over the last year, but are still stay historically high

The cars and truck insurance coverage quotes that ARE too great to be real: Warning over rise in 'ghost brokers'

Many victims think they are being messaged by a pal.

The most common motives for social media hacking were financial investment scams, ticket fraud or theft, Action Fraud stated.

Fraudsters can likewise get account details through phishing rip-offs or data breaches.

People typically utilize the exact same password across accounts, so when one is leaked several accounts are left susceptible.

Action Fraud has released a campaign, supported by Meta, to motivate individuals to take extra online defense by allowing two-step verification.

Victims often don't realise they have actually been scammed till they attempt to claim on their policy or if they take place to be come by police and asked to reveal their insurance coverage files.

Karl Parr, Claims Technical Director, AXA UK, told MailOnline: 'Ghost brokers normally offer premium prices far cheaper than clients can find in other places.

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

Young chauffeur Wayne Simpson bought an inexpensive car insurance plan on social media before understanding it was phony after he was unable to claim following a crash, landing him with a loss of ₤ 500.

Young driver Wayne Simpson bought a low-cost automobile insurance coverage on social media before understanding it was phony after he was unable to claim following a crash, landing him with a loss of ₤ 500

'We called Aviva and they told me there wasn't a policy taken out in my name and that the number we had actually provided was not a number they would utilize,' he informed Sky News.

'That's when the dust settles, and you understand it's been a scam.'
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Mr Simpson said the insurance documents looked so genuine that they handled to deceive a policeman at the scene of the crash.

'She stated," Your vehicle's not appearing as guaranteed". Quickly I went to my glove box, pulled the insurance coverage documents, showed her the files and she checked out through it and stated," That's absolutely fine",' he said.