The year 2013 saw a record number of reports to the Insurance Fraud Bureau’s (IFB’s) Cheatline and 2014 looks set to beat that says the IFB.
With over 6000 reports of insurance fraud received from public, at the halfway point in 2014 those figures are slightly ahead of the same period in 2013.
The Cheatline averages around 500 reports a month from the public covering a range of fraud types. Stephen Dalton, the IFB’s Head of Intelligence, says: “Although the IFB focuses on organised motor fraud, we take reports on any type of insurance fraud via the Cheatline. In fact, around a quarter of what we receive relates to household insurance fraud.”
Between 2011 and 2013 the volume of reports to the Cheatline roughly doubled, for a number of reasons, the bureau says. “There’s a huge difference in public awareness; of the scams themselves, the Cheatline, the role of the IFB and partners like Crimestoppers and the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED). They’ve all played a part and there’s a growing realisation that the idea of a victimless crime is nonsense.”
Cheatline reports are connected with 13 live operations being managed by the IFB, all helping to identify fraudsters and work with police forces. There’s a commercial benefit too, with Cheatline intelligence helping direct insurers to suspect claims that need further investigation.
Matt Gilham, Head of Financial Crime at esure says: “We work hard to integrate the management of IFB Cheatline into core intelligence handling procedures. Our experience shows that every year, Cheatline provides a material financial benefit where this information either aids an existing case or highlights a new claim or policy for investigation. Most recently, a Cheatline report helped target investigation on a suspect claim leading to a confession by the claimant and five figure fraud saving.”
As forscope for improvement, Stephen Dalton says: “We’re always looking at ways of improving the quality of the reports we receive and convert more of these into alerts for insurers. We also need to do more to promote the Cheatline. The more insurers and media promote the Cheatline the more people we can reach, and the better our chances of getting that nugget of information that stops a false claim or jails a fraudster.”
Cheatline reports can be submitted by calling 0800 422 0421 or visiting www.insurancefraudbrueau.org.
