A man has been charged with insurance fraud after trying to claim over £1million for a double amputation caused by allegedly self-inflicted frostbite.
Investigators accused the man, identified only by his surname Chang, of deliberately immersing his legs in a bucket filled with dry ice for 10 hours to claim money from insurance companies when his limbs were amputated for frostbite last February.
The 24-year-old suspect claimed he sustained the injuries after riding his scooter on a cold evening in northern Taiwan and suffered blisters as a result.
But Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said investigators were alerted when insurers reported suspicious claims and found he had withdrawn several high-payout packages just days before the alleged scooter ride.
The CIB noted in their report that “Taiwan is a subtropical region” and as a result there are “no known cases of severe frostbite requiring amputation due to natural climate factors in the flatlands”.
Liao documented the stunt between 2 a.m. and noon on January 27, 2023, according to the prosecutor’s March 14 statement. The picture: Chang freezes his legs
Officials in Taiwan arrested two people in connection with the bizarre scam. Pictured: Chang
Direct contact with dry ice, a solid form of carbon dioxide with a surface temperature of -78.5C, can quickly damage skin cells and lead to frostbite. (File photo of dry ice pills)
Chang, a student, underwent emergency surgery last February and both legs were amputated below the knee due to fourth-degree frostbite, sepsis and bone necrosis.
According to the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office, he was allegedly helped by an accomplice named Liao, 24.
Liao allegedly helped Chang fill a plastic bucket with dry ice before strapping him to a chair with cable ties.
Prosecutors said Chang then spent about 10 hours with his legs submerged in the dry ice.
Liao documented the stunt between 2 a.m. and noon on January 27, 2023, according to the prosecutor’s March 14 statement.
Direct contact with dry ice, a solid form of carbon dioxide with a surface temperature of -78.5C, can quickly damage skin cells and lead to frostbite.
The two suspects were successfully able to claim the equivalent of £5,489 (US$7,000) from an insurance company a month after Chang lost his lower legs.
Four other companies refused to pay the rest of his eight disability claims.
All five companies reported his suspicious insurance claims to authorities.
In total, the claims reportedly totaled around £1 million (US$1.3 million).
In connection with their investigation, the CIB presented weather reports showing that the temperatures on the day in question were between 6.1C and 17C, too mild to cause severe frostbite.
The agency said Chang’s injuries showed he was not wearing shoes or socks at the time of his injuries, and concluded they were therefore ‘man-made’.
After raiding his home last November, police found the bucket he allegedly used along with a Styrofoam box that held the dry ice.
Chang and Liao, who attended high school together, have been charged with insurance fraud and attempted insurance fraud while the case continues.
Chang was pictured being walked away by officials after his arrest.
In the photo, he appears to need his lower limbs. It was not clear if he was using prosthetics.
Chang claimed that Liao had told him that gang members were after him, prompting him to fabricate the claim.
The photo shows Liao after being detained by officials in connection with the case
The police search Chang’s home after investigating a potential fraud case
In another bizarre case, a court in Hungary ruled in November 2021 that a man who lost both his legs after being run over by a train had deliberately placed himself in its path so he could then claim over £ 2.4 million in compensation.
The defendant, named only as Sandor Cs., faced scrutiny from authorities for nearly a decade after both his legs were run over by a train in the Hungarian village of Nyircsaszari.
The Pest Central District Court ruled on November 9 that Cs. had climbed onto the tracks with the intention of having both his legs run over so he could make a huge insurance claim totaling over £2.4m, according to local media outlet Blikk.
Suspicion surrounding the incident arose when the authorities were informed that the defendant had taken out 14 high-risk life insurance policies in the year leading up to the incident.
Cs, who was wheelchair-bound after the incident and now uses prosthetics, claimed he took out the policies after receiving financial advice that told him returns are better on insurance than savings accounts.
His wife filed the insurance claims directly after the incident, but they refused to pay up on the grounds that they suspected Cs. had inflicted the injury on himself.