The police detained three people suspected of faking death in car accidents in the USA and receiving high compensation for it. As PAP found out, there is one among those detained Alex K., Marta HZ. and guitarist of a famous Polish rock band Piotr M All three were charged.
Police officers from Śródmieście detained three people suspected of acting together and in concert to extort compensation from insurance companies for fake deaths in alleged car accidents in the USA.
“For this purpose, the suspects used counterfeit American stamps, documents, fraudulent death certificates and bank accounts opened for family members (…). The police, in cooperation with the bank, prevented the withdrawal of further money,” said the deputy inspector. Robert Szumiata from the downtown police station.
The criminal activity was to last at least from 2021. It was then that the first person “died” in an alleged road accident in the United States of America. “The suspects, based on forged documents, obtained a death certificate, which they presented to two insurance companies, and on the basis of it, they paid a total of over PLN 1 million in compensation under life insurance policies,” explained the deputy inspector. Szumiata.
He said that bank accounts were opened in the name of immediate family members. “In this way, over PLN 1 million was extorted and an attempt was made to withdraw another PLN 800,000, but this time it was prevented by employees of one of the banks and police officers from the downtown Operational and Reconnaissance Department,” said Deputy Inspector. Szumiata.
He added that the 37-year-old was detained at the airport when he arrived from Scandinavia to collect compensation money. “The remaining two people – a 58-year-old woman and her partner, who is 5 years older than her, were detained on the same day,” the policeman said.
According to PAP, one of the detained is Piotr M, guitarist of a famous Polish rock band. There was information in the media that it was about a group Cult (check!).
During a search of one of the apartments, city detectives found and secured, among others: invalidated ID card, the American passport of the detained 58-year-old woman, official American stamps, mobile phones, payment cards, powers of attorney for bank accounts and the invalidated ID card of one of the detained men.
The case was taken up by the Warsaw-Śródmieście-Północ District Prosecutor’s Office, which initiated an investigation. “The collected evidence allowed the presentation of charges. After being brought to the prosecutor’s office, the detained Alex K., Marta HZ. and Piotr M. were charged with committing, jointly and in concert, fraud in property of significant value, attempted fraud, forging documents and using them as authentic ” – said the spokesman for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Warsaw, Prosecutor Szymon Banna.
He added that the suspects were interrogated and gave explanations.
He emphasized that, at the request of the prosecutor’s office, the District Court for Warsaw – Śródmieście applied pre-trial detention to Alex K. and Marta HZ. for a period of 3 months. “The court emphasized that the evidence collected by the prosecutor’s office indicates a high probability of committing the charged acts,” Banna explained.
The prosecutor applied preventive measures against Piotr M., such as police supervision combined with the obligation to appear at a designated unit and a ban on leaving the country.
The Penal Code provides for up to 10 years of imprisonment for these crimes.
“It is possible that the scale of this crime may be much larger and, consequently, the number of people ‘killed’ in this way and the compensation extorted will be much higher. These issues and many others will be clarified by the investigation, which has not yet been completed,” said the deputy inspector. Szumiata.