A man has been charged with insurance fraud after trying to claim over £1million for a double amputation caused by alleged self-inflicted frostbite.

Investigators accused the man, identified only by his surname Chang, of deliberately immersing his legs in a bucket filled with dry ice for 10 hours in order to claim money from insurers when his limbs were amputated for frostbite last February.

The 24-year-old suspect claimed he suffered the injuries after riding his scooter on a cold evening in northern Taiwan, suffering blistering injuries as a result.

But Taiwan’s Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said investigators were alerted when insurers flagged suspicious claims, and found he had taken out several high-payout packages just days before the alleged scooter trip.

The CIB noted in their report that ‘Taiwan is a subtropical region’ and there are, as a result, ‘no known cases of serious frostbite requiring amputation due to natural climate factors in the flatlands’.

 Liao documented the stunt between 2am and noon on 27 January 2023, according to the prosecutor’s statement on March 14. Pictured: Chang freezing his legs

Officials in Taiwan arrested two people in connection to the bizarre fraud case. Pictured: Chang

Direct contact with dry ice, a solid form of carbon dioxide with a surface temperature of -78.5C, can quickly damage skin cells and lead to frostbite. (File photo of dry ice pellets)

Chang, a student, underwent emergency surgery in February last year and both legs were amputated below the knee due to fourth-degree frostbite, sepsis and bone necrosis.

According to the Taipei District Prosecutors Office, he was allegedly helped by an accomplice named as Liao, 24. 

Liao allegedly helped Chang to fill a plastic bucket with dry ice before strapping him into a chair with cable ties.

Prosecutors said Chang then spent around 10 hours with his legs immersed in the dry ice.

Liao documented the stunt between 2am and noon on 27 January 2023, according to the prosecutor’s statement on March 14.

Direct contact with dry ice, a solid form of carbon dioxide with a surface temperature of -78.5C, can quickly damage skin cells and lead to frostbite.

The two suspects successfully were able to claim the equivalent of £5,489 (USD 7,000) from one insurance firm a month after Chang lost his lower legs.

Four other companies refused to pay out the rest of his eight disability claims.

All five firms reported his suspicious insurance claims to the authorities.

In total, the claims reportedly totalled around £1million (USD 1.3 million).

Reporting on their investigation, the CIB presented weather reports that showed the temperatures on the day in question were between 6.1C and 17C, too mild to cause serious frostbite.

The agency said Chang’s injuries showed he wasn’t wearing shoes or socks at the time of his injuries, concluding that they were therefore ‘man-made’.

Following a raid on his home in November last year, the police found the bucket he allegedly used along with a polystyrene box that held the dry ice.

Chang and Liao, who went to high school together, have been charged with insurance fraud and attempted insurance fraud as the case continues.

Chang was pictured being walked by officials following his arrest.

In the photo he appears to have use of his lower limbs. It was not clear whether he was using prosthetics.

Chang claimed that Liao had told him gang members were after him, prompting him to fabricate the claim. 

Picture shows Liao after being detained by officials in connection to the case

Police search Chang’s home after investigating a potential fraud case 

In another bizarre case, in November 2021 a court in Hungary ruled that a man who lost both of his legs after being run over by a train had intentionally put himself in its path so that he could then claim over £2.4million in compensation.

The defendant, who was named only as Sandor Cs., faced scrutiny from the authorities for nearly a decade after both of his legs were run over by a train in the Hungarian village of Nyircsaszari.

The Pest Central District Court ruled on November 9, that Cs. had climbed onto the tracks with the intention of having both of his legs run over so that he could make a large insurance claim totalling to over £2.4 million, according to local media outlet Blikk. 

Suspicion surrounding the incident was sparked when the authorities were informed of the fact that the defendant had taken out 14 high-risk life insurances policies in the year building up to the incident.

Cs, who was wheelchair bound after the incident and now uses prosthetic limbs, claimed that he took out the policies after receiving financial advice telling him returns are better on insurance policies than savings accounts.

His wife filed the insurance claims directly after the incident, but they refused to pay up on grounds that they suspected Cs. had inflicted the injury on himself.