- Chang has denied the charges, claiming he was injured while riding a scooter in Taiwan
- But investigators note that he first took several high-profit insurance packages
A man has been charged with insurance fraud after he tried to claim more than £1 million for a double amputation caused by an alleged self-inflicted frostbite.
Investigators accused the man, identified only by his surname Chang, of deliberately submerging his feet in a bucket full of dry ice for 10 hours to claim money from insurers when his limbs were amputated due to frostbite last February.
The 24-year-old suspect claimed he suffered the injuries after riding his scooter on a cold evening in northern Taiwan, resulting in blistered injuries.
But Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said investigators were alerted when insurers flagged suspicious claims and found he had taken several packages with high payouts just days before the alleged scooter trip.
The CIB noted in its report that “Taiwan is a subtropical region” and as a result there are “no known cases of severe frostbite requiring amputation due to natural climatic factors in the plains”.
Chang, a student, underwent emergency surgery in February last year and both legs were amputated below the knee due to fourth-degree frostbite, sepsis and bone necrosis.
According to the Taipei District Prosecutor’s Office, he was assisted by an accomplice named Liao, 24.
Liao allegedly helped Chang fill a plastic bucket with dry ice before tying him to a chair with cable ties.
Prosecutors said Chang then spent about 10 hours with his feet submerged in the dry ice.
Liao documented the stunt between 2 a.m. and noon on Jan. 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 rapidly damage skin cells and lead to frostbite.
The two suspects successfully managed to claim the equivalent of £5,489 (USD7,000) from an insurance company a month after Chang lost his lower legs.
Four other companies refused to pay the remainder of his eight disability claims.
All five companies reported his suspicious insurance claims to authorities.
In total, the claims are reported to be around £1 million (US$1.3 million).
Reporting on its investigation, the CIB produced weather reports which showed temperatures on the day in question were between 6.1C and 17C, too mild to cause serious frostbite.
The agency said Chang’s injuries indicated he was not wearing shoes or socks at the time of his injuries, concluding they were therefore “man-made.”
After raiding his home in November last year, police found the bucket he allegedly used, along with a Styrofoam box that contained the dry ice.
Chang and Liao, who went to high school together, are charged with insurance fraud and attempted insurance fraud while the case is pending.
Chang was filmed being walked around by officers after his arrest.
In the photo it looks like he is using his lower limbs. It is unclear if he used prosthetics.
Chang claimed that Liao told him that gang members were after him, prompting him to fabricate the claim.
In another bizarre case in November 2021, a court in Hungary ruled 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 compensation.
The accused, who was identified only as Sándor C., had been under scrutiny by authorities for almost a decade after both of his legs were run over by a train in the Hungarian village of Nyircsaszari.
The Central District Court of Pest ruled on November 9 that Cs. took to the tracks with the intention of running over both of his legs so he could make a major insurance claim totaling more than £2.4 million, according to local media outlet Blikk.
Suspicion surrounding the incident was raised when the authorities were informed of the fact that the accused had taken out 14 high-risk life insurance policies in the year before the incident.
Cs, who has been confined to a wheelchair since the accident and now uses prosthetic limbs, claims he took out the policies after receiving financial advice that said returns were better on insurance policies than on savings accounts.
His wife submitted the insurance claims immediately after the accident, but they refused to pay on the grounds that they suspected Cs. he inflicted the injury on himself.
