The 25-year-old, who The Courier has chosen not to name because he avoided a conviction, had started a business and borrowed money to purchase a truck.

The business was not successful and the truck had issues.

Defence lawyer Massi Ahmadzay said his client made the 'extremely poor' decision to attempt to obtain money by deception to get himself out of debt.

The Ballarat Magistrates' Court heard on Tuesday the man reported his truck as stolen to police in December 2019.

The insured value of the truck was $40,000 and the man made an insurance claim.

Police found the truck in the boundary of a Clunes property in June 2020.

The man made admissions to making a false report to police and attempting to get money from insurance to get himself out of debt.

Mr Ahmadzay said the man was genuinely remorseful, had no prior convictions and came from a good family.

Magistrate Noreen Toohey said the man's references were impressive.

"It is such a shame he didn't just reach out to his family, because from what I have read it is the sort of family that would have helped him immediately," she said.

Ms Toohey said she decided not to impose a conviction because the impact on his life would be serious.

She fined the man $2500.

"I am not for a moment saying the offending isn't serious," Ms Toohey said.

"The whole purpose with sentencing when you look at this sort of offending is to deter other people.

"It is a very easy thing to say 'I will just make a claim on insurance'. Imagine the effect on the financial sector if everyone did that.

"You made a complaint and there were a lot of police resources put into that. It certainly is serious offending."

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