Man cuts off his FOOT in £220,000 insurance scam... but ends up convicted with nothing after cops realised something was afoot

By SABRINA PENTY, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER Published: 09:43, 18 June 2026 | Updated: 09:50, 18 June 2026 A university clerk has been sentenced after arranging for his own foot to be amputated during a fake robbery in a bid to claim £220,000 in insurance payouts. The case took place in the state of Bahia in northeastern Brazil, where Vanderley dos Santos Gomes worked as a technical administrative assistant at the Federal University of Reconcavo da Bahia. Gomes, from Amelia Rodrigues, was convicted of fraud after judges ruled that he had staged a violent robbery to try to claim compensation from four different life and personal accident insurance policies. The court heard that Gomes had a respected and secure job as a civil servant at the university, but that his salary was not high enough to explain why he had suddenly taken out several expensive insurance policies. Investigators said he took out four policies in June and July 2019. Together, they would have paid out up to 1.5million Brazilian reais, the equivalent of £220,050, if he became permanently disabled. Prosecutors said that weeks later, Gomes claimed he had been kidnapped and robbed before attackers hacked off his right foot with a machete. He was found injured in a rural area near the village of Merces, in São Goncalo dos Campos. University clerk Vanderlay dos Santos (pictured) was found guilty of defrauding insurance companies after he amputated his own foot in an attempt to receive compensation Gomes staged a violent robbery to try to claim compensation from four different life and personal accident insurance policies His severed foot was later discovered inside a backpack alongside belongings he had reported stolen. After receiving medical treatment and surgery, Gomes submitted claims to the insurance companies seeking compensation. The court noted that he lodged the claims on 15th August 2019, just days after the alleged attack. The large value of the claims, the number of policies and the short period between the contracts and the injury triggered concerns among insurers and police investigators. Court documents stated that the sequence of insurance purchases, the value of the policies and the short gap between the contracts and the amputation showed a deliberate plan to obtain money by fraud. Gomes denied planning the scheme or causing the injury himself, and his defence sought an acquittal on the grounds of insufficient evidence. But judges at the Bahia Court of Justice upheld the conviction after reviewing forensic reports, insurance records, medical evidence and witness testimony gathered during the investigation. The court also rejected an attempt by Gomes to take the case to Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice. Investigators said they found multiple inconsistencies in the account he gave to police and insurers. Gomes claimed gangsters had hacked off his foot with a machete, but forensic experts said the injury was too clean and precise to have been caused in such an attack. The experts found instead that the amputation had been carried out using specialist surgical techniques. Lawyers representing the insurers said the case was one of the most unusual insurance fraud investigations they had encountered. Gomes was sentenced to two years in prison, which was later converted into 720 hours of community service and a financial penalty of £1,113, according to a ruling by the Criminal Enforcement Court in São Gonçalo dos Campos. He began serving the sentence in May this year after all appeals had been exhausted. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.