Man Accused of Self-Mutilation for Insurance Money

While this blog focuses primarily on fraud in the United States, the U.S.A. certainly does not have a monopoly on bizarre insurance fraud schemes, as in the recent case of a Taiwanese man who is alleged to have cut off his own hand while visiting China - after taking out NT$31 million (approximately US $1,000,000) worth of insurance.  He claimed it was the work of robbers, and if indeed this was a fraud scheme, it apparently did not work as Hu Chi-yang was apprehended by Taiwan police. 

According to the Taipei Times, a district court has ordered that the Taiwanese man, Hu Chi-yang, be released on bail.  A Shilin District Prosecutors’ Office spokesman stated that after interrogating the suspect, prosecutors decided to recommend that he be freed on bail for NT$700,000 (US $23,070).

Prosecutors said they were convinced that Hu could not tamper with witness statements because he did not have any accomplices in the case and they noted that he was not a flight risk because he has been barred from leaving the country. However, when Hu said he had no money, the prosecutors asked the court that he remain in detention. The court disagreed however, ruling that he be released on NT$150,000 bail.

Hu’s daughter, Hu Yi-ling, stated during a press conference on November 8^th that half of her father’s left hand had been severed during a visit to Putian in Fujian Province, China, on November 4^th, during an attack by three robbers who took his ring and watch.

However, it was later revealed that Hu bought insurance policies worth NT$31 million from two insurers in Taiwan before going to China on Nov. 3, and other evidence has since emerged that have raised suspicions that he cut off his hand to collect a hefty insurance payment.

When questioned by the Criminal Investigation Bureau and asked to give details concerning the incident, Hu repeatedly said “I forget what happened” or “I am not clear.”  He did insist that his hand was severed by robbers rather than being a self-inflicted injury.

The Bureau stated that the severed hand and the knife that was allegedly used in the incident were still in China, and if necessary, it would ask Chinese authorities to provide other evidence.

Conflicting with his “robbery” claim however, is the fact that the Putian Public Security Bureau (PPSB) in Fujian described Hu’s wound as “self-mutilation,” stating that there was no scuffle at the scene and the cut was extremely clean.  The PPSB also noted that Hu’s blood from the crime scene was found to contain anesthetic.  Or perhaps the robbers were trauma surgeons who are down on their luck. 

In addition to that, the owner of the knife shop where the meat cleaver was purchased (which was stained with Hu’s blood) is said to have identified Hu as the man who bought it. 

Of course, Hu stated at a press conference that, “This was absolutely not self-inflicted,” and his daughter backed that up by rejecting the allegations that her father mutilated himself to cash in on the insurance policies.