New Jersey prosecutors charged four people accused of running a coordinated scheme aimed at extracting more than $250k through fraudulent travel insurance claims, state officials said.
Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced the indictment with the Division of Criminal Justice and the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor.
A state grand jury returned the indictment on Dec. 5, 2025, and prosecutors charged all four defendants with conspiracy, insurance fraud, attempted theft by deception, impersonation or identity theft, plus falsifying or tampering with records. Prosecutors added a separate theft-by-deception count for Keyra Carla Liriano.
The defendants include Agustin Matos of North Haledon, New Jersey, Kenia Ivonne Vasquez of the Bronx, and Fort Lee residents Liriano and Patricio Arturo Alfonso.
Investigators said American International Group referred the matter, and authorities opened the case from there, messy paper trails and all.
From April 2022 through August 2023, across Bergen, Hudson, and Passaic counties, New York, and other locations, prosecutors said the group bought multiple travel insurance policies covering the same trip to the same overseas destination.
Prosecutors said the applications used false identities and credit card information connecting the defendants. After that, they allegedly filed claims with several insurers, describing hospitalisations abroad and medical bills worth thousands of dollars for emergencies prosecutors said never happened.
Officials said the submissions recycled identical documentation across carriers, even as the claim forms certified no other insurance existed for the trip or related expenses.
Most insurers rejected the claims, authorities said. Liriano still collected $14,835 from two carriers.
Prosecutors put the alleged attempted fraud at about $252,852, including $19,986 attributed to Matos, $27,812 to Vasquez, $37,226 to Liriano, and $167,829 to Alfonso.
State officials said the charges remain allegations, and courts must decide the outcome. All defendants remain presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
