Taiwanese family who committed the 'perfect insurance scam' has cover blown

A Taiwanese family guilty of an elaborate scheme that saw two parents faking their deaths so that their children could claim compensation money has had their cover blown.

In 2001, Hsu and Yan staged their deaths along a coastal highway near Taiwan’s Yilan County, on the island’s east coast. 

According to investigators cited by Taipei Times, Hsu and his wife parked their car along Yilan’s Binhai Coast Road. They then exited their vehicle and pushed it off a cliff near the sea, driving away with their children in a separate car afterwards. 

Following the incident, Hsu’s children received over $106 million Taiwan dollars (HK$ 28 million) of compensation money from Cathay Life Insurance, one of the largest insurers in Taiwan. Hsu’s children claimed that their parents had died in an accident and that their bodies had been lost at sea.

In reality, Hsu and Yan hid in Taipei County’s northern Tamsui district for four years before eventually fleeing to the mainland’s Jiangsu Province.