More than three dozen people are in custody Thursday following multiple arrests across the Greater Toronto Area overnight which targeted a vehicle insurance fraud ring.
The investigation, code named "Project Whiplash" concentrated on an accident and insurance fraud ring allegedly run by members of the Tamil community. The 37 suspects arrested in Scarborough, Brampton and Markham face 130 charges.
"This is a multimillion-dollar fraud that was being perpetuated here in the GTA and certainly there is a small number of people who have been exploiting a larger number of people," Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair said during a press conference at police headquarters.
Police said they were initially tipped off by a staged collision in 2009. They then teamed up with the Insurance Bureau of Canada, the Financial Services Commission of Ontario and State Farm Insurance for the drawn out investigation.
The scam included phoney car vehicle insurance and health insurance claims from the staged collisions. In some cases each of the so-called victims netted $50,000 in bogus claims.
Police said a number of healthcare workers were arrested and charged as well.
Earlier in the day police cars lined the street outside its 43 Division on Lawrence Avenue East in Scarborough waiting to take the suspects inside for processing.
One raid took place on Morley Crescent in Brampton, where at least one person was taken into custody.
In Scarborough, police arrested two people at an apartment building on Greenbrae Circuit, near Lawrence Avenue East and Bellamy Road, at about 6:45 a.m.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada says insurance fraud costs Canadians billions of dollars each year.
