Fingerless fraudster jailed for 5 years

By Xu Fang  |   2008-12-19  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

HUANG Linhua, a local businessman, was sentenced to five years in prison yesterday for attempting to defraud nearly 450,000 yuan (US$65,886) from two insurance firms.

The Jing'an District People's Court ruled Huang had cut two of his fingers off on purpose in an attempt to get an insurance payout.

Huang, 48, insisted it was an accident and he didn't know how much compensation he would get when he cut off his fingers.

Huang said he accidentally cut his fingers off on October 19, 2007, when he was cutting up a duck to make soup.

Huang put his severed fingers into a plastic food bag and was taken to hospital. There he claimed only to have found one severed finger.

Huang had taken out two insurance policies on September 10, 2007, just over a month before he cut his fingers off. The policies were for 2 million yuan and 990,000 yuan. Huang claimed an accident payout on both policies, asking for 15 percent of each, a total of 448,500 yuan.

The insurance companies doubted his account of the accident and asked police to investigate. It was found that the wounds on his fingers were parallel, which investigators said was unusual if he really had been cutting up a duck.

Police found Huang owed his bank about the same amount he claimed from the insurance companies.

The court ruled Huang had tried to defraud the insurance firms. The court said it had imposed a light sentence because Huang didn't get any money.