State calls man out on cellphone fraud scheme

A man in Sacramento has been nabbed in an insurance fraud scheme that involved his losing cellphones — which he claimed to have been lost while either camping or fishing — and filing thousands in bogus insurance claims, the California Department of Insurance announced Friday.

Thein Kevin Nguyen has been charged with one felony count of fraud for allegedly running a scam where he filed 35 fraudulent cellphone loss claims, collected the proceeds from the claims, and then sold the cellphones he claimed as lost, profiting from both the insurance proceeds and sales, according to a statement.

During the investigation, Mr. Nguyen said that only three of the cellphone loss claims during this timeframe were legitimate claims and that he received approximately 25 replacement Samsung cell phones as a result of his fraudulent actions. 

Mr. Nguyen then admitted to detectives that he sold each phone on Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist, making more than $7,000 profit from selling the cell phones. In total, Mr. Nguyen obtained approximately $24,000 worth of replacement cell phones over the course of three years.