Man fakes car theft to collect insurance claim

The Quezon City Police District said it discovered an attempt of a man engaged in a car rental business to report a “fake” car theft incident in order to collect insurance claims.

Inspector Angelo Nicolas, chief of the QCPD anti-carjacking section, said Virgilio Gloriani reported the alleged theft Thursday afternoon before the QCPD-Station 3.

Nicolas told The STAR that Gloriani claimed he parked his maroon Mitsubishi Adventure (ZLZ-562) at around 1 p.m. in front of the Circle C Department Store along Congressional Avenue, where he bought grocery supplies.

But when he went out 45 minutes later, the vehicle was gone.

When Gloriani went to the QCPD-ANCAR to report the incident, Nicolas said he noticed that there were “some inconsistencies” in his statements.

“I ordered our operatives to conduct an ocular inspection at the site where the vehicle was purportedly stolen but no one among those who were there saw the incident,” Nicolas said in an interview.

He added Gloriani’s wife said the vehicle was still parked at their residence Thursday night, adding further confusion to Gloriani’s story.

“Gloriani eventually admitted that the vehicle was rented to a certain Boy for P1,200 last Dec. 23,” Nicolas said.

He said that based on Gloriani’s admission, the vehicle was supposed to be used only from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. that same day. The man who rented the vehicle, however, never returned the car.

Nicolas said that while Gloriani could still be considered a victim, he faces perjury charges. He said it was apparent that Gloriani resorted to such a move to be able to qualify for car insurance claims.

But according to Nicolas, police are still helping Gloriani locate the man who rented his vehicle.

He, however, said it was weird that Gloriani does not have any other information about the man who rented the missing vehicle. – Reinir Padua