A Taiwanese student had her legs amputated in connection with a botched insurance scam

Allegedly a university student in Taiwan his legs were amputated he hoped to net him and his friend $1.3 million in insurance fraud. However, as Business Insider reports, the 2 men, identified only by their surnames Zhang and Liao, received just $7,200 from the insurer, which now wants it back.

According to the Taiwan Bureau of Criminal Investigation, 23-year-old Zhang he dipped his feet into a bucket of dry ice for over 10 hours to make it appear like they were so severely frostbitten that a double amputation could be essential.

“After conducting a full investigation, the prosecutor’s office charged Zhang and Liao with fraud, helping others cause serious injury, etc., and initiated ex-officio criminal proceedings in accordance with the law,” the office said in a statement.

The office continued: “The self-inflicted insurance fraud suspect identified this time is only 20 years old, but he has been disabled for life. This office urges the public to take good care of their health and not regret minor losses caused by the greed of illegal money.”

According to Business Insider, Liao allegedly convinced Zhang to sign a promissory note that required him to pay $800,000. Reports indicate that Liao told Zhang that he was being chased by gangsters.

A few days before January 26, 2023, when Liao and Zhang were riding a motorcycle at night to prove that Zhang had suffered frostbite, Zhang had taken out several expensive life, travel and accident insurance policies.

Despite suspicions about Zhang’s condition, hospital medical staff still performed surgery, which resulted in Zhang having two legs amputated. The bureau’s report shows that the climate in Taiwan makes frostbite virtually unattainable.

After an investigation, authorities found evidence including a plastic bucket, insurance documents, a white Styrofoam dry ice box, eight cell phones and a tablet. On January 17, 2024, the couple was arrested. They were charged with fraud and aiding and abetting serious injuries.

The story from Taiwan is an illustration of economic growth insurance fraud for the reason that starting of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Digital insurance fraud increased 159% globally between fiscal second quarter 2021 and monetary second quarter 2022, in line with TransUnion, a global information and insights company.

“We saw interesting trends in the first half of 2022, with suspected fraud in the insurance industry continuing to increase during the first six months of the year,” said Shai Cohen, senior vice chairman of worldwide fraud solutions at TransUnion.

“In recent years, we have seen fraudsters change the industry every quarter,” Cohen continued. “We believe there is an increase in soft fraud in the insurance industry today as some consumers may misrepresent their policies in an attempt to save money, particularly in an environment of high inflation that puts greater pressure on their wallets.”