Singapore police said on Friday that two individuals, a man and his mother, were charged in court as they masterminded a fake death plan to obtain Central Provident Fund (CPF) and insurance claims.
The 35-year-old Abraham Rock and his 53-year-old mother Talat Farman faced accusation for making over S$3.7 million in false claims.
AXA, the insurance company lodged a police report on November 13, 2018, after the authority found unreliable documents which were produced to prove the death of the woman in Pakistan.
By the time the insurance firm noticed the irregularities the man and his mother already received S$49,000 from the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) under the Dependants' Protection Scheme as well as S$80,331.23 from her CPF account.
Later, on November 21 Commercial Affairs Department officers arrested Rock and then his mother Farman.
The court documents revealed that Farman and her son masterminded the plan along with three more men.
They tried to portray that the woman has died in a fatal accident which took place at Ring Road, near Kohat Bridge in Peshawar, Pakistan on July 5 last year. Later, Rock submitted a police report on July 17 from Bhana Mari Police Station to Great Eastern Life to claim several insurances, including Prestige Term Plus life and Great Protector insurance. The claims worth S$1 million each. He also appealed for the personal insurance claim of S$60,000 along with a life insurance claim with Great Eastern Life that worth S$71,998.86.
Since these claim applications required several documents, Rock submitted a medical report and a death certificate of his mother from Lady Reading Hospital in Pakistan. He even provided the copy of the invoice for the marble plate which he claimed was for Farman's burial. However, he was found accused of making false claims with AXA, MSIG and NTUC Income.
The police stated that they worked closely with the insurance companies to arrest the culprits. As per the Channel NewsAsia, the officials stated that "in our continuous effort to combat fraud, it is vital for all insurers to be proactive in detecting and reporting suspicious cases to the authorities."
During the court hearing while the man faced a total of 11 charges, which includes the charges for engaging in a conspiracy to commit cheating, providing false information and manufactured evidence, as well as making a fake statutory declaration, Rock's mother faced five charges of engaging in a conspiracy to cheat.
Both the offenders are currently out on bail of S$15,000 each but will be back in court on May 10.
