Conwoman jailed over £50,000 Leeds insurance fraud

Anita Debnath, 44, backed up her bogus home and travel insurance claims using police reports obtained from West Yorkshire Police and two other forces.

She told officers in London, Leeds and Dublin that she had been robbed of cash, electronics and designer bags before submitting 12 identical claims to 11 insurers, a spokeswoman said.

She told officers that thieves had stolen an Asus laptop, a Chloe handbag, a Louis Vuitton purse, and two mobile phones.

In February last year Debnath told the Metropolitan Police Service she had been robbed close to London’s Trafalgar Square, before making a claim to an insurer.

A month later, she reported to West Yorkshire Police that she had fallen victim to robbers in Leeds city centre, later submitting a claim to three further insurers.

In June 2012, while on holiday in Dublin, she informed the Garda that she had been robbed, prior to entering a claim with seven other insurers.

One month on, she contacted the Metropolitan Police Service and said her belongings had once again been stolen, this time in Kingston upon Thames, before making another claim to the insurer she had contacted in February.

To make her claims appear real, Debnath sent the insurers a copy of the police reports she obtained from the three forces, City of London police said.

She was found out when an insurer identified her claim was fraudulent and passed the information along to City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED), a police spokeswoman said.

The spokeswoman said that the detectives found no evidence of the robberies having ever happened.

Debnath, from central London, later pleaded guilty to 12 counts of fraud by false representation, the spokeswoman said.

Today at the Old Bailey in London she was sentenced to two years and three months in prison,the spokeswoman added.

“In a bid to avoid detection, Debnath spread her reports out across two countries, three police forces and 11 insurers,” said investigation lead detective constable Cynthia Rushie.

“Unfortunately for her the new reality for fraudsters is that IFED is working in alliance with insurers and police forces to clamp down on people who still think they can make easy money at someone else’s expense, with little or no risk of ever being brought to justice.”