City of London Police crack fake Lego theft insurance scam

A man has been sentenced to four years in prison after being convicted of submitting a series of fraudulent household insurance claims, including fabricated reports of stolen high value Lego sets.

Misterton-based Matthew Johnson was sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court on 17 December 2025 after pleading guilty to fraud by false representation. The court also imposed a confiscation timetable requiring him to repay the proceeds of his offending.

Between May 2021 and January 2022, Johnson was found to have submitted multiple false insurance claims to insurer Axa, relating to alleged burglaries at properties in Shetland and Goole. The claims featured items including MacBooks, televisions, gaming consoles, fishing equipment and large quantities of collectible Lego.

Across four separate claims, Johnson received more than £14,000 in insurance payouts.

Legal action arose after Axa identified inconsistencies in the documentation supporting Johnson’s claims. This included repeated use of the same receipts across different claims submissions and invoices that appeared to have been altered to match the insured address.

Piece by piece

The insurer referred the matter to the City of London Police’s Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (Ifed), which subsequently launched a criminal investigation.

Ifed officers contacted manufacturers and retailers to confirm that the invoices submitted by Johnson were fraudulent and, in some cases, related to products that had not been sold at the time of the alleged thefts.

In June 2023, Ifed officers executed a search warrant at Johnson’s home in Misterton, where they found large quantities of Lego matching the items he had reported as stolen displayed in his living room. An iMac that Ifed seized from a converted shed contained digital evidence of Johnson’s fraud, including copies of fake invoices, screenshots of insurance policies and identity documents in multiple names.

Investigators also uncovered a further fraudulent claim submitted under the name Gavin Beadle, linked to a different address in Goole. Banking details associated with the policy were traced back to Johnson, while the identity documents used to support the claim were later confirmed by the Passport Office and Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) to be fake.

Ifed detective constable Richard Fox said: “This case highlights the meticulous work our officers carry out to expose and dismantle complex insurance fraud.

“Johnson created a web of false identities, forged documents and fabricated claims to exploit the system for personal gain. Thanks to the vigilance of Axa and the determination of our team, we were able to bring him to justice.”