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A woman in China was arrested by local police in the Chinese city of Nanjing after her scheme of making money off delayed flights was discovered, The Paper reported.

Used over 20 identities to purchase travel insurance

The 45-year-old woman, surnamed Li, used 20 other identities in addition to her own, to take out almost 900 travel insurance policies from 2015 to 2019.

But instead of getting onto the flights herself, Li was making use of her past travel service work experience to selectively take out insurance on flights that she thought would be delayed.

The Paper, citing Yangtse Evening Post, said she was able to receive relevant information beforehand that tells her if the flight was going to be delayed or cancelled.

Thereafter, she would purchase the tickets to the flights that are likely to be delayed or cancelled, before checking if there is any extreme weather along the route the flight is going to take that day.

In total, she made around RMB3 million (S$589,800) through such a method.

Tried to hide what she was doing

To avoid getting on the radar of the authorities, Li would only take out up to 30 or 40 insurance policies using each identity.

For one of the flights, she even managed to rake in RMB100,000 (S$19,660).

Li reportedly said she would try and get her flight ticket refunded if she knew that the flight was not going to be delayed, in order to reduce her losses.

But once the flight is delayed, Li said she would make use of one of the insurance company rules that did not require the insured themselves to apply for compensation, and proceed to get compensation from the company.

Unfortunately, the police caught up with her misdeeds and arrested her on April 29, according to another report by The Paper.

The Nanjing police announced on Friday afternoon, June 12, that Li had, on multiple occasions, faked information related to the delaying of flights, and scammed huge amounts of money from insurance companies.

Police are currently investigating the case.

Insurance companies fixed the loopholes Li made use of

The Paper later found out that many insurance companies have already fixed the loopholes that Li took advantage of to get rich.

The ones they checked with now have a clause that says they will not be responsible for any payout should the insured, at the time of buying, already knows or reasonably deduces that the flight can be delayed anytime.

Top image via Nanjing Police