Dominic Ayo Williams, 37, made 25 bogus travel and home insurance claims alleging that the pandemic had impacted his holidays when in fact he had not booked any of the flights or accommodation he had claimed for.
Two insurers paid out a total of £61,380 over the course of 18 months.
Williams, who was previously known as Ayodele Oladuti, was already a convicted fraudster.
In 2017 the former estate agent was jailed for two years after he attempted to defraud clients out of more than £25,000 by photographing bank cards and statements while showing prospective buyers around homes.
Dominic Ayo Williams pictured in 2017 when he was jailed for fraud (Image: Surrey Police) During Williams’ most recent fraudulent scheme he provided documents to substantiate his claims that his accommodation provider could no longer host him due to the Covid-19 pandemic, or that he had to cancel his holiday due to foreign travel restrictions.
However, fraud investigators from AXA spotted that these were forged and referred the case to City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED) in June 2021.
Williams was arrested in November 2021 and later admitted what he had done.
Then in May 2022 Aviva’s fraud investigators also referred Williams to police.
In one of his Aviva claims Williams stated that he had lost a Louis Vuitton bag that contained an iPhone, Rolex watch, AirPods and various documents.
Aviva investigators did some digging and found out that Williams was a convicted fraudster, at which point he lied that his 2017 conviction had been overturned.
Williams pleaded guilty at Westminster Magistrates Court in November 2023 to 16 charges of fraud by false representation and one charge of using a false instrument with intent.
He was sentenced at Inner London Crown Court on Tuesday (February 3) to two years imprisonment, suspended for 18 months.
Detective Constable Dan Weller, from the City of London Police’s IFED, said:“Many of us faced disruption to our travel plans as a result of Covid-19.
“Williams took advantage of this and systematically made bogus insurance claims for 18 months, pocketing tens of thousands of pounds that he wasn’t entitled to.
“After an insurer became suspicious of one of the claims, Williams had the audacity to apologise for lying and then send it forged documents the next day.
“Travel insurance provides peace of mind whilst in a foreign country and is meant to be a reassuring safety net should the worst happen, not a means of personal financial gain.
“The sentence handed to Williams and upcoming confiscation proceedings show that IFED will ensure that insurance criminals do not benefit from their dishonest actions.”
