Man bought fake no claims bonus for car insurance on Facebook, Cork court told

A Brazilian man who was trying to secure car insurance in Ireland purchased a fake no claims bonus from a Facebook page which he submitted to the insurance company, a district court in Cork has heard.

Court presenter Sergeant Eimear O’Connell told Bandon District Court that Claudio Rodrigues Pereira, aged 47 of Emmet Row, Bandon, Co Cork, submitted the false document to Axa Insurance as part of an application for motor insurance in April 2023. 

Axa made a complaint to gardaí about the application and Pereira was arrested and charged with using a false instrument under the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act, 2001.

The court was told that Pereira had three previous convictions, two of which were for using a false instrument arising from a similar incident where he had applied to Liberty Insurance also in 2023. On that occasion he had bought a false Portuguese driving licence from a Facebook page.

Defence solicitor Plunkett Taaffe said that Pereira had been living in Ireland for four years and had a full Brazilian licence when he arrived. He said that his client had been “duped” by the Facebook page offering licenses and no claims bonuses and was “very contrite.” 

Mr Taaffe said that the offending occurred over a short period of time and that his client was now taking lessons with a view to obtaining an Irish driving licence.

Judge Joanne Carroll said that the offence was “a terrible deception” that was clearly premeditated and that Pereira was “trying to bypass Irish law while a visitor to this country.” 

She added: “If you go on to a Facebook page to buy a licence or other documents you are setting out to deceive, the question is can this man stay out of prison?”

Claudio Rodrigues Pereira was sentenced to four months in prison, suspended for 18 months.

This article is funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme