Insurers detected more than 130,000 fraudulent claims, equivalent to 2,500 a week, up 6 per cent on 2014, says the industry body the Association of British Insurers (ABI).
There was a significant rise in dishonest liability insurance claims detected, such as ‘slip and trip’ claims. The number, at 26,900, increased by 36pc, and their value, at £391 million, was up 14pc on 2014. The ABI says that this reflects the industry’s focus on this area, partly as a result of the Government’s clampdown on whiplash, and the reduction in legal costs for road traffic accident claims.
Dishonest motor claims remained the most common frauds and of highest value – 70,000 detected, down slightly at 2pc on 2014, with a value of £800 million, down 10pc. This fall reflected better management of frauds within the industry, and the work of the Insurance Fraud Bureau (IFB) and the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department (IFED).
While the value of property frauds uncovered continued to fall – down 2pc to £107m on 2014, the number of detected frauds at 27,500 rose by 7pc. Opportunistic property fraud remains a threat, the ABI says.
Cases
The ABI outlined cases such as:
A man claimed on life policies of a friend whom he alleged had died in a car crash in Africa. No trace of either the friend or the accident could be found. He subsequently admitted fraud and was jailed for seven years.
An enthusiastic runner was found to have made a fundamentally dishonest claim for personal injuries after his Twitter account showed him competing in a 10k road race when he was supposedly suffering from severe neck and back pain.
A man claimed £5,000 compensation for neck, back and arm injuries he said he had suffered following a vehicle collision in a retail car park. However, CCTV footage from the retailer showed that the man was not in his car at the time.
James Dalton, ABI’s Director, General Insurance Policy, said: “Insurance cheats do not lack nerve or ingenuity, which is why there will be no let-up in the industry’s commitment to protect honest customers. The chances of getting caught have never been greater, and the consequences, such as a prison sentence and difficulty in getting future insurance and other financial products, have never been more severe and long-lasting. The scale of frauds uncovered shows that the industry’s £200 million a year investment in tackling fraud is paying dividends, as is the collaboration with the Insurance Fraud Bureau and the Insurance Fraud Enforcement Department. And the industry is working hard with the Government to implement the recommendations of the Insurance Fraud Taskforce to make the industry even more resilient to this crime.
“Reducing fraud is part of a bigger picture of reducing unnecessary costs, so that honest customers benefit from the most competitive insurance deals. This is why it is important to ensure that the Government implements further proposals aimed at tackling rising personal injury claims, and that there are no further increases to the rate of Insurance Premium Tax.”
