A Manchester man was sentenced to an additional five years and seven months in prison after attempting to obtain almost £1 million from a life insurance company by falsely claiming that he had died in Pakistan.
Syed Bukhari was sentenced at Inner London Crown Court on 16 January 2020 after pleading guilty to fraud by false representation. The additional sentence was ordered to run consecutively to a separate seven-year-and-11-month sentence he was already serving for unrelated fraud offences.
The insurance fraud began when Bukhari allegedly posed as his partner in an email to the insurer, claiming that he had died in Karachi. He later continued the impersonation during telephone calls as he attempted to support the claim and move it towards a potential payout of £999,999.
The insurer raised concerns about the claim and referred the matter for further investigation.
As part of the investigation, experts examined telephone recordings. Voice analysis provided strong evidence that the unidentified caller claiming to be Bukhari’s partner was, in fact, Bukhari himself.
Investigators also found that documents submitted to support the alleged death were false. These included a medical certificate, a death-registration certificate and a trust document.
Further checks were carried out at the cemetery named in the death documentation. Investigators found no record of Bukhari being buried there on the stated date or during the surrounding week.
Bukhari initially denied involvement and claimed that his partner had made the insurance claim without his knowledge. He later pleaded guilty to one count of fraud by false representation on 19 December 2019.
The case demonstrates how insurers and investigators can use a combination of voice analysis, documentary checks and independent verification of official records to test suspicious claims.
Importantly, the £999,999 figure represented the amount Bukhari attempted to obtain; the case did not establish that the money was successfully paid out.
