A man in Taiwan was charged with insurance fraud on Thursday after he tried to claim over $1 million in payouts for a double amputation caused by self-inflicted frostbite, investigators said.
The suspect, identified only by his surname Chang, had emergency surgery in early February last year and lost both legs below the knee due to a combination of fourth-degree frostbite, bone necrosis and sepsis, according to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office.
Chang told a Taipei hospital that he had suffered the severe injuries during a scooter trip in northern Taiwan days earlier. Investigators have accused him and an accomplice of deliberately immersing his lower limbs in a bucket of dry ice for 10 hours.
Dry ice has a surface temperature of -109 degrees Fahrenheit and begins sublimating into carbon dioxide at warmer temperatures. Direct contact can lead to frostbite, quickly and seriously damaging skin cells.
An indictment charging Chang and his accomplice, surnamed Liao, said the two 24 year olds had filled a plastic bucket with dry ice and strapped Chang to a chair while he sat with his legs among the cold blocks. Liao documented the incident that lasted from 2 a.m. to noon on January 27 last year, according to the charges.
The pair were able to successfully claim over $7,000 from one insurance company a month after Chang’s amputations, while four other insurers declined the remainder of his eight disability claims.
All five companies, which would have otherwise paid Chang a combined $1.3 million, later reported their suspicions to the police.
AFP via Getty Images/SAUL LOEB
Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau, the island’s domestic security unit under its National Police Agency, said separately on Thursday that its investigators had discovered several irregularities, including that Chang had purchased high-payout insurance products from a number of companies just days before his injuries.
Another suspicion related to Chang’s claim that he had suffered frostbite during a trip on a cold day.
The CIB said: “However, Taiwan is a subtropical region. There are no known cases of serious frostbite requiring amputation due to natural climate factors in the flatlands.”
The agency presented data from Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration, which showed temperatures on the day of the incident were between 43-62.5 degrees Fahrenheit—failing to meet the below-freezing conditions needed to cause frostbite.
Additionally, the CIB said, pictures obtained from the hospital where Chang was treated showed “symmetrical” injuries—also unusual for typical frostbite victims. The photographs suggested Chang had not been wearing socks or shoes at the time of his injuries, which investigators concluded were “man-made.”
A search warrant executed on November 15 returned a polystyrene box that once housed the dry ice as well as the bucket he had allegedly used.
Both Chang and Liao were charged with insurance fraud and attempted insurance fraud.
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