Three individuals fined in connection with passenger jump-in scheme: ICBC

Three residents of British Columbia’s Lower Mainland have received fines totalling $5,000 for attempting to defraud the Insurance Corporation of B.C. (ICBC).

The trio was found guilty of making fraudulent injury claims from a crash in which two of the individuals were never involved, notes a statement last week from ICBC. One person was fined $1,000 plus one day in jail, a second individual was given a $2,000 fine and one day in jail, and a third person was fined $2,000.

Thai Yuen (Lisa) Vo, her sister Michelle Vo and Ryan Rillo all claimed to have suffered injuries in a crash while exiting a parking lot at a Surrey gas station two years ago, the statement notes.

Looking suspicious to ICBC claims adjusters, the Special Investigation Unit was brought in and, upon further inspection, found a number of inconsistencies. These included who was actually in the vehicle at the time of the collision, the time of the crash (one claimant was still at work when it is reported to have taken place), and cellphone records indicating a conversation between two of the people involved (even though they were supposed to be in the same vehicle).

All three individuals were charged under Section 42.1 of British Columbia’s Insurance (Vehicle) Act and found guilty of insurance fraud by “a passenger jump-in scheme,” a commonly used term to describe either a literal or figurative addition of passengers not actually involved in a collision, notes the ICBC.

Since the three individuals could not explain discrepancies in their stories, ICBC reports that the judge accepted the Crown’s case in criminal court.

No monies were paid out on the claims for bodily injuries in this case.

In 2014 alone, ICBC paid out more than $2 billion in bodily injury claims, up by more than $600 million from five years ago. It points out that while the number of crashes in B.C. is relatively stable, it is receiving more injury claims every year with more people reporting injury claims from about the same number of crashes.