30-year-old David Ward was the front seat passenger in an Opel Corsa which rear-ended the Volkswagen Passat 27-year-old Lynsey Ivory was driving.

Ward and Ivory, of The Beeches, Clonshaugh, Priorswood, Dublin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to attempting to dishonestly by deception cause a loss to FBD Insurance on dates between 22 July 2013 and 1 January 2014.

Both claimed to be suffering injury from the collision but denied to gardaí, who arrived to investigate the crash, that they knew each other.

They were transferred to hospital in the same ambulance during which they continued to pretend to be strangers.

Both Ward and Ivory later submitted a personal injury claim to FBD Insurance during which they again denied knowing the occupants of the other vehicle.

They both made voluntary statements to gardaí outlining what had happened and stating that the people in the other car were strangers.

Garda Neill Plunkett told Martina Baxter BL prosecuting, that a claims handler with FBD examined both Ward’s and Ivory’s Facebook accounts, having received their claims and noted that they appeared in each other’s profile pictures.

The gardaí were contacted and when officers arrived at Ivory’s home to arrest her for questioning Ward answered the door.

The court heard that if the couple’s claim had been successful they could each have been awarded up to €15,000.

Read the  full story at source: Facebook shows ‘strangers’ in fake crash a couple – RTÉ News